Remnant Arms Race
by Zanzetkuken
Summary: In an archipelago on the brink of war, one of the two island nations that had managed to turn themselves from a backwater to having military tech that equaled, or in some cases surpassed, equipment of the major powers of the late 1930s over the course of two bloody civil wars is taken from their world to be transported to Remnan to adapt to a new challenge, the Grimm.
1. Archive: Initial Armory

**As the writing of the bulk will primarily be in a form of archives detailing the different years of combat, the entirety of this 'chapter' is going to be a large scale reference guide to the arsenal of the nation known as United Forenia, the nation that is the end state of a weapon design based forum game this story will be centered around, as attempting to squeeze all these aspects into the initial part dealing with first contact would bloat it severely. To get to the story proper, advance to the next 'chapter'. New weapons will be introduced after initial contact, but will be detailed in the top of the chapter they are introduced in rather than being edited in here so you don't have to constantly be digging into this to find the new stuff.  
**

 **Side note only relevant when this is first posted. The initial few years of conflict have been written up prior to posting and will come out at a fairly rapid pace. Once past that point, things will be slowing down. While they could be posted all at once, I want to hedge my bets on possibly having the seventh done by the time the sixth will be posted so there is a good length of time for regular updates rather than all at once followed by an unknown length hiatus before the seventh year comes out. For now, there will be this archive, the initial contact with the Grimm, and the first year of warfare.  
**

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 **Rifles:**

-M2 Osprey: The Osprey is a bolt-action rifle, chambered in 7.62mm, intended for snipers and marksmen. It is bolt-action, and has a 10 round magazine. It has a wooden stock, and the magazine protrudes a few inches beneath the rifle. It features a heavy barrel, and with its bolt action mechanism, has excellent grouping at long range. On top of the gun is a set of adjustable iron sights with a fine crosshair, and a rail for a telescopic sight.

-Eagle Sight MkII: A refractive telescopic sight designed with the Osprey rifle in mind. It is available in two types with variable magnification from 4x to 7x (long-range type), or from 1.5x to 4x (short-range type). Has a large objective lens which creates a bright picture, but short eye relief and a narrow field of view. They are [Complex], and they must be custom fitted to weapons which do not have rails.

-AS-F14A: A 7.62mm, semi-automatic rifle. It is an open bolt blowback action, and uses a 12-round box magazine with a small charge handle on the side. It has adjustable iron sights. The weight of the moving action makes the gun difficult to control, but this is mitigated by a heavy barrel. The blowback action is fairly reliable despite being open bolt. Also available as a carbine.

-AS-AR34: The AR34 is an assault rifle chambered in new 7.62L ammunition, an intermediate powered cartridge. It is fed at the bottom from a wide 24-round magazine, or a 40-round drum, and ejects cartridges to the right side. It has a tactical rail an adjustable iron sights on top. It is select-fire, with a sliding knob for either single-shot or automatic. The knob is very stiff and requires soldiers to take their left hand off the weapon and force it. It has aluminum furniture, and a vertical pistol grip and foregrip. It weighs under 6kg. It has good stopping power and accuracy out to medium range, and is relatively easy for users to control even on automatic fire. It's about as long as the AS-F14, which means it is usable in close quarters but not ideal.

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 **Machine Guns**

-Cascade Sub-Machine Gun: This is a sub-machine gun, firing the 8.89 mm short pistol round. It uses a reliable closed-bolt blowback system. The bolt system is large, leaving room for an 8 inch barrel with a slotted hand guard. The stock is wooden, ugly, and stops at the receiver, where brass is ejected from the bottom of the gun. The short barrel gives poor accuracy, especially when hot, and the .35 cal short bullets have short range. The system fires about 400 rounds per minute.

-M3 Sorraia GPMG: A 7.62 mm machine gun fed from a belt. 50-round belts can be strung together for extended fire or stored in a belt box attached to the Sorraia, which for practical purposes is similar to a magazine. It uses a recoil action, and is configured to fire around 800 rounds per minute, achieved with the help of a muzzle booster (which looks like a flared end on the barrel). Weighs 22 pounds. Comes with a bipod, or tripod for emplacements. It uses copper heat sinks, which are now shrouded. It has a changeable barrel, which is necessary for emplacement use. It is effective to about 800 yards when mounted.

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 **Heavy Weapons**

-AS-AC18: An advanced primer ignition autocannon, which ignites cartridge primers before the round is fully chambered. It fires the 20x100mm round, fed from a top-mounted 25 round C-shaped magazine with a powerful spring, about 600 times per minute. The weapon is quite large with a simple action but heavy barrel, weighing over 40 kilograms, and it requires being mountedto fire with accuracy, although recoil is reduced by the nature of its action. It is dependent on a careful balance between the force of the shell and the force of the action, which means that different ammo types cannot be interchanged without recalibrating the gun, AP rounds are used most often.

-Incinerator Flamethrower: A heavy weapon, consists of two tanks on a soldier's back (one of harmless nitrogen as a propellant, and one of flamethrower fuel) and a nozzle with a pilot light. Shoots a jet of burning liquid about 25 feet. Includes an emergency cutoff valve.

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 **Sidearms:**

-AS-SP30: General infantry sidearm. An Arstotzka-made semi-automatic pistol, firing 9mm. It has a 10-round magazine and can fire quickly with moderate accuracy, at short range. Moderate stopping power. It is pretty reliable, and has a threaded barrel and can be fitted with a suppressor.

-Sawed-off Shotgun: General infantry sidearm. Fires twice before breech loading, very effective at short range, ineffective otherwise. Poor armor penetration. Uses 12 gauge shells.

-Scimitar: [Expensive] Officer sidearm. Elite soldiers receive a scimitar, a deadly curved sword which can be used on foot or horseback. Even in 1938, an officer's uniform is incomplete without his sword.

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 **Explosive Weapons:**

-AS-1911 8cm Mortar: A light mortar tube with rocket-propelled explosive shells, which fire after being dropped into the tube and striking the bottom.

-AS-RPG28 A: A rocket-propelled grenade, fired out of a launch tube. The grenade itself consists of a conical shape with a narrow tube of propellent out the back, and twisted fins in the middle of the tube. The launch tube is 3cm wide, a meter long and the rocket fits in up to the fins, and is just a metal tube with a handle. To ignite the propellant, soldiers remove a pin, on the rocket, which is first clipped by a short chain to a trigger on the handle. The tube itself and each grenade each weigh 3kg. It is accurate enough to hit a tank out to almost 100 meters, after which it drops quickly. Rockets are available with warheads based on each type of grenade, including a HEAT conical shaped charge.

-AS-G27: The basic AS-G27 grenade is an oblong ball that fits comfortably in the hand, with a four second fuze started by pulling a ring. The casing breaks into fragments when it explodes. The AS-G27I is incendiary, the AS-G27S deploys smoke. The AS-G27AT is a cylinder shaped, magnetic shaped charge for tanks. A soldier can penetrate medium armor with it, but they have to run right up to a tank to stick one on.

-AS-LM20: A landmine! Consists of an explosive, metal shell and button. Armed by removing a key. The mines are cheap and simple, and reliably kill or dismember infantry who step on them.

-M34 Viper Landmine: A multipurpose landmine, but mainly used for tanks. It's a disc shaped box full of explosives, with a trigger on top. The mines are specially designed to be stacked, their triggers ignite eachother simultaneously. The trigger is locked with a removable pin. The mines weigh 2.5 kilos each. Two or three are effective against vehicles, but a bit taller and heavier than a single mine would be with the same explosive content. Be extremely careful when stacking the mines!

TPD 'DOLPHIN' 38-1: This is an aerial torpedo, weighing in a bit more than half a ton. It is powered by a wet heater motor, and stabilized by a gyroscope. Both of these have proven to be delicate and finicky devices, and so much time was spent getting them to work that a planned magnetic detonator was never implemented, so it sits close to the surface and detonates on impact. Both the wet heater and gyroscope are delicate, so it must be dropped close to the water and at a low speed.

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 **Radios**

-Model 3 Radio: Vacuum tube radio, in two separate 30-pound boxes requiring two men to carry. It also includes a light, flexible antenna to attach to a tent pole or vehicle frame. It can fit into most vehicles without affecting performance. Transmits and receives audio.

-Tiger's Whisper: This radio device, instead of being used to transmit speech, issues and receives 26 discreet amplitudes on a given frequency. The amplitude broadcast is selected with a dial, and the amplitude received is is used to indicate a letter, using a fully circular meter which reads amplitude and is labeled with letters. When the dial, or meter, falls to zero after displaying a letter, it moves the paper indicator by an amount based on its highest position, like a rotary telephone dial. This means that the messages are bit more complex than a simple substitution. A communications officer must jot down each letter as he reads it. The letter indicators both on the dial and meter are pieces of card paper which can be changed, so that new substitutions can be issued to communications officers regularly in case a radio communicator falls into enemy hands.

-AS-DC29: An Arstotzkan device design to solve Moskurg's cipher. It is basically a Tiger's Whisper, with its own code card with the numbers 1 through 26. It uses a typewriter mechanism to stamp each number onto a ticker tape. The numbers on the ticker tape are the simple cipher version of the Moskurg message, which is relatively easy to solve by hand. In addition it includes a counter for each letter, displaying the frequency in which letters occur which helps solve ciphers faster. An average Arstotzkan officer is clever enough to use this to crack a Moskurg message in five to ten minutes. With a stolen code card, it can also act exactly as a Tiger's Whisper would, where communications officers must write down each letter as it appears. It fits into a very heavy backpack.

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 **Uniforms:**

-Uniform AS-GU23: The Forenian uniforms are based on the 1923 Arstotzkan ones, and come in patterned camouflage colors, grey/white, beige and olive. The uniform has parade dress colors on the inside, so can be worn inside-out at official funtions. Armor plates and helmet are lightweight Aluminum. Includes all the pockets and bandoliers a soldier could ask for, and one right on the elbow that nobody asked for.

-AS-P32: Parachute rigging. The parachute itself is large and round, and various straps, clips and buckles allow a soldier to carry a light primary weapon, their ammo and a grenade. Alternatively, a paratrooper could also bring a mortar or LMG and a few rounds, but only their sidearm with it. Radios need to be dropped separately.

-Tiger Infantry Armor: Infantry armor made of a forged manganese steel alloy. All of the armor plates are relatively thick for infantry, and the full suit weighs in at 36 pounds. The helmet is particularly thick, and fits round and close around the head, low over the eyes and down to the neck with a little outward slope. It can be attached with a face mask, which when worn allows a wide but very narrow viewing slit between the mask and helmet, while even covering the neck. The breastplate is curved outwards for optimal armor angle, with appearance of a ridge down the middle. The backplate is thick, but flat. At the waist these plates end and there are flat curved single-piece taces to protect the upper legs, below the knee the armor has no coverage. The pauldrons allow comfortable shoulder motion, being made of three layered plates, and the upper arms are covered by rerebraces, which are round fitted plates to the outside of the arm. While the lower arms, lower legs, and sometimes gaps around the shoulders are exposed, most parts of the armor will stop a pistol bullet at point blank. The breastplate and taces will stop rifle bullets at all but very close range. AP Horsekillers easily penetrate at medium range. The armor is tiring and cumbersome, troops cannot effectively crawl and kneeling is difficult, as is aiming down rifle sights while using the mask.

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 **Defensive Structures**

-Trenches: An excavation of the ground deeper than it is wide and narrow compared to its length that can be dug to be as deep as a man is tall. A fire step built of wood allows soldiers inside deep trenches to be elevated above the lip to fire at enemy forces. The side closest to the enemy often has barbed wire guarding it, with exception of areas with ladders to allow soldiers inside to advance upon enemy forces.

-Pillboxes: Small, hexagonal concrete structures with loopholes that weapons are fired through. Often equipped with an M3 Sorraia GPMG or a AS-AC18.

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 **Artillery**

-AS-1912 Artillery A: A field gun firing 80mm shells, loaded through a sliding bolt. The action is not dissimilar to a bolt action rifle, where the old casing is ejected when the bolt is opened. Must be towed by a truck. It can fire about 12 times a minute, and the barrel rests on shocks which keep it on target after firing. Aims between 0 and 90 degrees vertical. It has several kilometers of range.

-B2 Destroyer: A big, long piece of artillery with firing 100mm rounds. The barrel is nearly 3 meters long, for maximum muzzle velocity and accuracy. Its barrel sits on a hydro suspension mechanism, and lurches back each time the gun fires. It weighs more than a ton and can fire at great distance around 10 times a minute, when hand loaded in its locking screw breech. These rounds can be placed with pretty good consistency, for their range. Must be towed by a truck.

-Bumblebee AT/AA: A 92mm gun. It can be aimed down close to the ground, or up the sky. It is aimed by a gunner who sits in a seat which inclines and declines with the gun itself, and has an iron sight which consists of two rings, the front of which has a "spiderweb" design. The gun is aimed with two traversal wheels. Fires fuzed flak rounds, which have an adjustable timer set by a dial on the gun itself. There is also a mechanical targeting calculator, which has a dial for target range, and rate of change of range, which can set the fuze time for shells accurately as the target moves. Additionally given an altitude and angle, the sight will automatically offset so that the gunner need merely keep the crosshair over the target. It is pretty effective, and also cheap and reliable. However, adjusting targeting calculator takes too long to aim at dive bombers and close, low-altitude planes. Fires about 15 times a minute.

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 **Ground Vehicles:**

-L-1 Tiger: The Tiger is, despite its fierce name, a truck. It has a long, narrow nose in front of the cab containing a twelve cylinder engine, and the steering wheels are next to it under round cowls. It has a bed where a hopper, tanker, seats, trailer hitches or other things can easily be attached. There are six rear drive wheels, on independent suspension.

-AS-M17A: A motorcycle which seats one passenger, and a second in a sidecar. The petrol motor is Arstotzka's first, with three in-line cylinders. On its own, the bike is capable of more than 80 kilometers per hour, cross country, and 110 on a road. The sidecar is available with a machine gun, sometimes on a pintle mount to aim at aircraft.

-AS-MV21-AL: This is an armoured car, designed to be maneuverable in tight quarters and offroad. The frame, armor and engine block are all built from aluminium for reduced weight. It sits on four big tires, the rear ones shrouded by armor, on hydro suspension. The V-6 motor gets it up to 70 KPH. Its shape is tight and rectangular around the crew cabin, which holds only a driver and gunner, to minimize the quantity of armor needed. The engine is in the rear, and includes the lightest (thin) armor in the slats over the radiator. The front armor is medium and most of the armor is light. A belt-fed AS-AC18 gun fires from the top of the car, with the gunner's hatch open. The gunner hatch provides the gunner a small amount of cover.

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 **Armor:**

-SPAT: A self-propelled gun vehicle consisting of a petrol engine, caterpillar tracks, and a forward-facing Bombardier howitzer with just enough armor plating to hide the crew behind. Rolls on treads with 4 driving wheels. The armor is light, with a gap in the middle for the gun to rotate, raise and lower. Ammunition sits in racks behind the armor. The vehicle has a top speed of about 8 mph. The gun is just a Bombardier, fixed to the SPAT on a frame which pitches and yaws on a pair of hand cranks. The SPAT has a set of jacks to use when firing, which improve accuracy considerably by preventing the vehicle from shaking.

-AS-MAT26-50: A light tracked platform for the DT25 50mm gun originally designed for the AS-T25 tank. Moves on a simply 8-cylinder motor and treads. It has thin RHA armor in the front only, with the rest open to the air. The DT-25 gun has an extended barrel with a muzzle brake, and is mounted on a front-facing armature with good side-to-side and vertical angling, for direct fire. It includes an M3 Sorraia for good measure against aircraft.

-T2 Breaker: A tank. It is medium armored throughout with RHA, with a slanted front but mostly square. The turret is specially cast as a rounded dome and rotates with electrical motors. Includes a 41mm rifled Breaker cannon, with a long barrel, suspension and muzzle brake. The Breaker cannon can fire about 24 times a minute, it is single loaded by hand. It also has a coaxially mounted M3 Sorraia. The exit hatch is towards rear with another MG. The tank is a heavy, it sits on wide cowled treads and is powered by a big 12-cylinder diesel engine, and can get up to about 35 kph. Crewed by a driver, loader, gunner, and commander. Now with extra slat armor.

-AS-T33: A tank similar to the AS-T25, with Heavy frontal armor, a radio as a standard feature. The shape is basically the same, a wedge with a cylindrical turret towards the back. It is powered by a turbocharged and fuel injected diesel engine, with twelve cylinders, which allows the tank to reach 45 kph. It is also armed with a new, enormous DT33 75mm cannon, which loads with a screw breech and can be fired about 12 times a minute, which happily penetrates medium armor at long range with HEAT rounds, and has similar accuracy but better range than the DT25. It includes one M3 Sorraia coaxially in the turret and one for a commander/spotter to use on a pintle. The turret is now operated by an electric motor on the horizontal traverse, and the tank has light spaced armor skirts around the turret, and on the sides down to the treads which help defend against HEAT rounds. A bit prone to running short on ammunition.

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 **Air Force:**

-Model 4 Yellowjacket: A fighter aircraft, built fully of aluminium. It has flat low wings on a relatively long, narrow fuselage which holds its V12 motor. The motor is fuel injected, and cooled by a water radiator. It has six exhaust pipes poking out under the wing on each side, and a canopy-covered pilot seat close to the tail. It is relatively sturdy and maneuverable, it is fast and makes tight maneuvers but is "temperamental", prone to going into out-of-control rolls and requiring a tight grip on the joystick. The canopy includes a tubular gun sight. The six Sorraia guns in the wings provide ample firepower, but the six guns and their ammo are somewhat heavy. Moves faster and maneuvers better than the Wasp, as well as having a higher altitude ceiling.

-AS-DB-HF-23: An airplane built entirely from aluminium. This lighter, sturdier frame allows the plane be reasonably fast with a 9-cylinder radial engine and make aggressive dives and recoveries for bombing, with half a ton of bombs. The radial engine is designed entirely around an AS-AC18 which fires through the prop shaft, necessitating a relatively heavy and thick prop shaft. It has decent maneuverability, with its metal design allowing for strong forces on the wings and tail, and large control surfaces, but it is best at dogfighting while not carrying a bomb load.

-AS-HF-32: An aluminum built fighter with a mid wing. It has a long narrow fuselage with a water cooled, turbo charged and fuel injected V10 motor. It has a square-ish closed canopy and fixed landing gear. It is armed with 2 AC-18s in the wings and 2 Sorraias in the nose, on an interrupter gear. It is faster and can climb higher than the AS-DB or AS-1931 by a good margin, and despite some turbulence from the landing gear it has better maneuverability at high speeds. Not often, but sometimes, the landing gear breaks off in an extreme maneuver, forcing pilots to land the craft on its belly. It also includes two bomb mounts (up to 200 kg of bombs), which can be fitted with extra fuel tanks (+1 oil when in use).

-AS-1931-HAFB: A three-engine bomber with a shoulder wing. It is constructed of a geodetic aluminium frame with resin-treated fabric skin. The pilot sits in a cockpit on the front of the plane with a pyramidal canopy, and between the two wings is an AC18 gunner, on top of the plane, with a 360 degree rotation under a trapezoidal canopy. Has 3 turbocharged and injected engines, one in the nose and under each wing. Despite its size, this enables it to almost keep pace with AS-HF-24s and gives it a high altitude ceiling. These engines burn a lot of fuel, limiting range. It carries a two-ton payload of bombs, and a bomber with a sight which can be adjusted based on a written table for airspeed and altitude. At full altitude, these bombs are incapable of hitting precise targets, and especially moving targets. The plane also has fixed landing gear.

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 **Navy:**

-AS-CV22: A steam-powered ship, worthy of sea travel. Uses two AS-51 S steam engines, which each power one screw. The vessel is around 60 meters long, and carries cargo enough to provide +1 Transport Capacity. It mounts an AC-18 on the bow for air defense, and an AS-1910 on top of the con tower. Costs 3 ore.

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 **Wonder Weapons**

-The Death Ball: A 30-foot boulder, on two equally large steel wheels, which themselves are lined with rockets to propel it. The boulder is hewn smooth and round, and hollowed by stoneworkers (in 1935!) to support a stabilizing gyroscope. It can reliably roll in something resembling a straight line thanks to its gyroscope, although large moguls or divots will send it wildly off course. For the ten seconds or so it keeps to speed, it can crush a tank hull. In fact the most difficult thing about its use is moving it around before firing it. It, or the boulder from which it is constructed, is too large to move around on a truck, so it is instead dragged on a sled by several trucks, in a modern mechanized method which resembles the way in which ancient people moved stone megaliths. Once hewn into shape and given their gyro, chassis and rockets, they are generally not moved, but kept in place and rotated to aim. It can only be deployed in areas with flat land access to a stone quarry.

-AS-ARAC-35: The ARAC is a mobile runway, carried by coal train on more than 30 consecutive train cars, which unfold their top armor into a runway long and wide enough for a HAFB to land, be drawn back by a winch and cable (as it cannot taxi), then take off after being refueled and rearmed. The runway panels are supported by jacks on either side and take about a day to setup or pack away. The process of landing and takeoff takes about forty minutes, limiting the amount of traffic that can use the runway. The train also requires a sufficiently flat and straight railway to be useful as a runway. This often constitutes making a special track, but is easier than building a runway. There is a good section of track in the central desert, east desert, and plains. There is currently no system to move aircraft from the runway to the ground and back. The runways can land a few planes and take them off in order, which park on the ends of the runway, but far less than a normal runway could store.

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 **Design Doctrines**

-Vehicle Radios **:** Most vehicles are equipped with a Model 3 Radio set, in a configuration suitable to the size and power source of the vehicle.

-Fuel Tank Liners: Unarmored combat vehicles have foam fuel tank liners which can stop or slow leaks if the tank is punctured.

-Warheads **:** Missiles, shells and bombs of various sizes can have various types of warhead attached, such as high-explosive, HEAT, incendiary, and so on. Developing a new warhead type means it will be available in other applications where it could easily apply, and new sizes of shells or bombs are available with various warheads.

-Pintle Mounts: Following old Arstotzkan design doctrine, machine guns are placed on pintle mounts where possible, to give them a good vertical aiming range capable of hitting ground and air targets.


	2. Chapter 1: Initial Battles

**First Contact with the Grimm**

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It is January of 1938. The nations of Canalla and Forenia are on the brink of war after both nations were seemingly shelled by the other side. All of the limited attempts at diplomatically avoiding a war are rapidly seen to be failing and the nations are rapidly gearing up for war. Both had rapidly advanced in technology since their major wars had heated up in 1910, going from effectively backwater nations to major powerhouses of military technology on the level of the world powers, even surpassing them in some fields. With the greater resources available to the two now that their lands were united, a war between the two could result in them advancing far past the world powers and introduce weapons that would revolutionize warfare. However, a slight wrinkle to this would manifest in one of the universes as Forenia completely disappeared from the planet. Well, disappeared is an inaccurate term. The nation was relocated across the reality to another world.

For Forenia, the transport to Remnant was not seamless, as the sky turned a wild mix of colors. Concerned this may be a new prototype weapon Canalla was attempting to deploy against them, though they were uncertain as to why this wasn't used as their first strike if so, the military forces of the island were placed on full alert. This initially seemed to be unnecessary as the effects rapidly faded, seemingly having only been a strange Aurora Borealis. This assumption was challenged when a new extension of land, roughly fifteen kilometers wide and thirty kilometers long, was located to the northwest of Moskurg that seemed to link towards an unfamiliar landmass.

Limited scouting forces are sent out as the main force begins fortifying the new connection. Over the radios, disturbing reports begin coming back from forces that have progressed to the edge of the main landmass, speaking of demonic entities striking forth and rapidly overrunning them. The air force attempts to arrive in time, but the radios fall dead before they can arrive to support the fallback of the scouting parties. Aeriel observation of the areas sees only the dead and destroyed equipment. The fortification efforts increase as the military waits for this oncoming force.

While the names of the creatures besetting the Forenian military were unknown to them and they would subsequently given them different names, the people of Remnant, the name of the world Forenia had been transported to, would know of them as the Grimm. Not all of the variants known to the Remnant populace were present, but there were the Beowolf, Ursa, Nevermore, King Taijitu, and Death Stalkers types assaulting the lines.

Initial contact between Forenia and the Grimm, outside of the apparent overwhelming of the scouting parties by these creatures, is through a number of snipers utilizing M2 Osprey rifles with Eagle Sight Mk. II sights spotting several of the creatures emerging from the heavily forested isthmus at long range. Shots fired out seem to have little to no effect, so, initially through Tiger's Whispers or AS-DC29s but switching over to Model 3 radios when the need grew and no forces similar to Forenia being present, the Forenian military switches to a different tactic. They bombard the Grimm by using AS-1912 Artillery A and B2 Destroyers, some mounted on SPATs, to rain 90mm and 100mm HE shells down upon the Grimm forces, killing the Beowolves and Ursa with a fair bit of ease while having trouble hitting King Taijitu and needing direct hits upon Death Stalkers to reliably kill, and their aircraft move in to strafe and bomb the ground-based Grimm forces. However, upon their approach, Nevermores make their presence known and the AS-HF-32s move to engage the avian Grimm while the AS-DB-HF-23s and AS-1931-HAFBs drop their payloads upon the Grimm, the former of these two moving to assist the HF-32s after their payloads have been released. The Model 4 Yellowjackets not utilized due to their equal cost but worse performance to the AS-HF-32s. The bombardment of the Grimm wound their ground forces fairly well, and while some Nevermores prove a bit more difficult to take down, the armaments of the HF-32s combined with their greater speed and pilots with a great deal of experience against faster foes results in the Nevermores perishing at a fair rate, though some aircraft do manage to be taken down and their pilots slain by the ground-based forces as their emergency Sawed-Off Shotguns, AS-F14A carbines, or AS-SP30s prove drastically inadequate for fighting this new foe, though Cascade Sub-Machine guns do manage to wound at least Beowolves and maybe an Ursa if fire is focused upon one for long enough. The Grimm are fairly decently damaged, but are still in fairly large numbers.

As the Grimm begin to close to medium range, the soldiers in the trenches armed with AS-AR34s, M3 Sorraia GMPGs, or AS-RPG28 As and those in Pillboxes or AS-MV21-ALs armed with mounted AS-AC18s, begin to open fire upon the Grimm. However, only limited success is seen with most weapons, but the AS-RPG28 As and the AS-AC18s manage to do quite well in flat out eliminating the smaller Grimm and wounding the larger specimens to some degree or another. In addition, the tripping up of the sporadically placed AS-LM20 and M34 Viper landmines damage many other Grimm, the latter especially effective at damaging King Taijitu due to their chaotic movements. Further, the continuing bombardment of the Grimm by artillery, strengthened by the Grimm having entered the range of AS-1911 8cm Mortars, and aircraft is made even worse as AS-MAT26-50s, T2 Breakers, and AS-T33s begin contributing their fire, their HEAT rounds tearing apart Deathstalkers and standard rounds destroying Beowolves and Ursa. King Taijitu prove to be difficult to regularly hit, but those damaged by landmines, or lucky strikes by AS-RPG28 As are more easily targeted and finished off. Death Balls see new life here as the boulders race through lines tearing holes in the masses of Grimm and, especially if there's a screw up in the gyroscope, their chaotic movements preventing the larger Grimm from being able to effectively dodge the spheres of rocky death, killing off Death Stalkers and the occasional King Taijitu fairly easily.. In the air, the Nevermores now have to deal with fire coming from Bumblebee AT/AA rounds that only push that battle more in the favor of Forenia. Any pilots that manage to get taken down in this area are able to live longer than their counterparts further out were able to, as their AS-P32 parachutes can bring them to Forenian lines and into the trenches on occasion, though the lack of an ability to direct the direction of travel does result in some being surrounded by Grimm. Overall, this is a very deadly area for the Grimm to traverse through.

As the remaining Grimm close in and most Artillery is forced to avoid hitting Forenian infantry, there is a drastic shift as holes are ripped through the barbed wire that does kill a few Beowolves. Grimm begin to tear into Forenian infantry with ease, and while sustained fire from the infantry's weapons can bring Beowolves and Ursa down, Death Stalkers and King Taijitu are able to easily obliterate many Forenian soldiers, though some ducking low in trenches are temporarily able to avoid the coils of the Taijitu on a fair number of occasions. Incinerator Flamethrowers are utilized now able to be utilized prove to be somewhat decent weapons against the Beowolves and Ursa, but the whipping of the King Taijitu rapidly killing the user at the range needed and the armor of the Deathstalkers prevents it from being useful against those species of Grimm. AS-G27s save several lives, though on a fair number of occasions this is from a soldier deciding to perform the ultimate sacrifice to save others or spitefully taking the Grimm seeking to kill them out with them, as the explosives kill a number of the highly numerous Beowolves and Ursa while damaging King Taijitu, though the effect against Death Stalkers is very limited. One thing soldiers are exceptionally glad for is the aluminum plates of their uniforms on occasion managing to mitigate their injuries just enough that they, or allies, can occasionally finish off their attackers and allow them to live another day. Those strong enough for Tiger Infantry Armor prove to be able to be able to take a few hits from the less powerful Beowolves and Ursa before being killed or wounded enough to need to be evacuated, with some officers that had run out of ammo turning to their long-outdated Scimitars and getting the occasional kill at great risk. Pillboxes prove to be good defensive positions to fight from as the concrete holds out against the Grimm somewhat decently, for at least a short time, and the AS-AC18s are able to tear into those attacking, though King Taijitu and Death Stalkers can get through, the examples that manage to make it far enough to do so are very limited. It is the same story with the Forenian armor. While those Grimm and determined Beowolves and Ursa can tear into them, their numbers have reached the point that Grimm kills of Armor are rare. King Taijitus, and to a lesser extent Death Stalkers, that do manage to get that far are actually taken down by teams of soldiers in the backs of L-1 tigers or soldiers in the sidecars of AS-M17As or in the gunner positions of AS-MV21-ALs, using the moderately effective AS-RPG28As and their coordination or speed to damage or finish off the Grimm. By this point, even the most persistent of the Nevermores have been killed, so the AS-HF-32s and the AS-DB-HF-23s, while not able to bomb without great risk, are able to strafe the ground-based Grimm.

In the end, the Forenian military is able to fight off the attacking Grimm and are victorious. However, upon seeing the dissolving nature of the Grimm, the Forenian Supreme Command is heavily concerned about the dissolving nature of the creatures. The best working theory they have in the aftermath of the combat is that it is some kind of spore that could potentially spawn more. As such, the Incinerator Flamethrowers are utilized to sterilize the area, but this is slow and results in there not really being any territorial gains after the first confrontation. A more effective means of doing this would need to be developed.


	3. Chapter 2: Combat over '1938'

**UF-ART-38 Thunder Gun** \- This 150mm piece of artillery is the first created by Forenia since the B2 in 1925, and is also the largest piece they have made yet. It is a powerful piece, but there is a minor oversight occurs while the gun is being designed and the resultant weapon is missing the hydro-suspension of the B2 Destroyer, resulting in reduced accuracy of the gun at longer ranges that cause Rocket shells fired from this weapon to have only limited effect.

 **UF-SPG-38** \- This new carrier is a fully-tracked light-armored behemoth, and is basically the sealed driver-and-radio-operator compartment up from, with a crew of gunners riding in back with a UF-ART-38 Thunder Gun and ammunition. The platform while fully loaded is able to keep up with Heavy Tanks and nearly manages to keep pace with the AS-T33 and T2 Breaker Medium Tanks, just shy a couple kilometers per hour. Hand-cranked feet are used to keep the gun stable while firing. While the platform is able to fire without them lowered, the lack of hydro-suspension of the UF-ART-38 Thunder Gun makes this a risky proposition.

 **UFN-DD-38 'Footman'** \- The 'Footman' is a Destroyer, notably an escort destroyer. It carries 3 main dual-purpose cannons that can mount either Bumblebees or B2 Destroyers that are capable of firing our rocket-propelled ammunition for for greater range, and AS-AC18s placed wherever they can fit. Racks to mount depth charges are considered, but given Forenia currently lacks any depth charges, they are left out of the design in exchange for more AS-AC18s. A speculative variant is kept around with the racks that can be switched to if any Depth Charge designs are produced, however.

 **UF-FTT-38 'Clean Up Crew'** \- This weapon system is composed of an armored trailer to be towed by existing tanks, filled with a flammable liquid and a pressurized inert gas as propellant, that feeds through a hose to a nozzle bolted to the side of the towing tank's turret. The size and weight of the trailer, as well as its use of wheels, mean that it can often be a severe pain to bring it over more difficult terrain and cannot be moved over ground that has recently been rained upon. A lack of armor means that the trailer or hose can be punctured or torn respectively with only moderate difficulty.

 **UF-SHMG-38 'War Horse'** \- An update to the old M1 Stallion MG. The update switches out the .60 caliber rounds with 15mm rounds to bring it in line with the standards of the rest of the military, and the internal mechanisms are brought up to modern standards. This effort results in the weapon now boasting a 650 round per minute rate of fire and a weight of 33 kilograms.

 **UF-F-38 'Hornet'** \- An update of the AS-HF-32. Attempts to modify the landing gear into a retractable form winds up results in failures oddly similar to the collapsing landing gears the AS-19B planes had back when they were introduced in 1919. Drunk engineers that worked in Arstotzka in that year blame some of the former Moskurg engineers for sabotaging the landing gears with the motive of it not having been the Model 4 Yellowjacket being updated, and the resulting fights result in this issue not being fixed in time. Fortunately, the team working on changing over to a single centerline mount are not brought to fighting as easily and that part of the design is completed and is sturdy enough to carry a similar sized payload to the combined two prior mountings while increasing the quality of the plane's aerodynamics.  
 **  
UF-IFR-38 Model 4 Radio** \- An update to the old Model 3 Radio. The weight of the radio as been reduced to a mere 18 kilograms thanks to new electronics and new methods for transmitting and receiving signals, and can now be carried by one man as a backpack. However, the new electronics utilized in the design have resulted in it being less resistant to bad weather and it is a more fragile of a design than the Model 3 Radio.

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 **1938**

The Forenian military begins to exploit the silence upon the front to secure territory upon the isthmus with the eight new weapons produced by the Department of Engineering. Due to the ineffectiveness of most rounds against the Grimm, Snipers are now largely relegated to spotting the creatures and relaying their locations to UF-ART-38 "Thunder Gun" and the UF-SPG-38, the latter of these causing the AS-MAT26-50 to be retired, are quite effective at increasing the kill rate against the Grimm at medium and long range despite their problems with accuracy as very few things can survive having a 150mm shell explode anywhere near them. This becomes slightly less effective as forces pass beyond the isthmus and increasing amounts of ground need to be covered necessitating weaker artillery pieces or the sniper works as one member of a mortar team.

The air battle effectively stays the same as while the Hornet is slightly faster thanks to it aerodynamics, the plane is still essentially the same as an HF-32. Similarly, the UF-FTT-38 'Clean Up Crew' design initially is believed to be of only limited use, as its lack of armor makes it especially susceptible to destruction by all types of Grimm and study of battlefields determines that the prior theory of the Grimm dissolving into some form of spore that spawns more of them false. However, particularly inventive logisticians determine a use for it in burning roads through the forested areas. While some work needs to be done to get them fully useful and an occasional wildfire is spawned, the roads can still be constructed easier than before and the land left behind after the wildfires do make for excellent kill zones or locations to build an outpost within. The wildfire method does admittedly reduce as complaints from some parts of society about the wastefulness of the act cause there to be secondary tanks with trailers filled with water to keep the road clearing to be just that, but the wildfire method is on occasion used to clear out locations for outposts, though largely only on purpose.

While the rounds of the UF-SHMG-38 "War Horse" are smaller than the AS-AC18, the weapon proves to be what many soldiers think of as the ideal weapon for killing the less armored and smaller Grimm. It may take one or two more bullets to fully kill, the lighter weight allows for far more ammunition to be carried essentially negates this problem. The weight of the weapon prevents it from becoming a standard infantry weapon, but more are able to carry it than the AS-AC18 and in some cases there are individuals that can now wear Tiger Armor with the weapon when they couldn't with the AS-AC18. These individuals, along with wielders of the War Horse in general and explosive experts that can use their armaments to wound the larger, armored Grimm, rapidly find themselves with many friends and people that owe them money. This is, presumably, an unrelated coincidence.

No new Grimm types are encountered over the course of the year on land, and many theories are created as to the reason behind this. Most come to the conclusion that a vast majority of the local stock was eliminated by the First Contact battle and posit greater forces will soon be encountered soon. These conclusions are largely come to as Sea Dragons are encountered by UFN-DD-38 'Footman' Destroyers and AS-CV22 ships. The latter are basically helpless against these Grimm, while the former does have trouble turning its guns at a sufficient rate due to the Grimm's oddly quick speed. However, if the ship rapidly turns in such a way to aid the rotation of the turrets, the Grimm is able to be struck with some frequency. It does notably take a few shots to eliminate the creatures and its lighting based attacks can arc throughout large sections of the metal ship killing large numbers of crew, so battles frequently end up more costly than the Forenian Navy would like for taking down a single Grimm. While multiple ships can take down the Grimm slightly easier, the same is true for the Grimm if multiple of them are attacking one UFN-DD-38. It is noted that the Grimm's attack utterly confuses many of the nation's scientists, but that is true of the Grimm in general at this point.

The trench and pillbox system is made more complex and extensive, though the limited fortification designs and having to keep the artillery pieces on the dirt rather than in fortified positions draws some criticism from those who view the line as being too weak for the less mobile nature of what is needed to safely guard the mainland. A lack of major assaults does slightly hinder these critics, but the hold the United Forenia party has upon the parliament is notably weakened as new parties begin to form when this is combined with other issues that segments of the population have with the party.

Aside from this, two other issues come up that would likely affect the combat efforts. The more immediate is that the military needs a way to more rapidly build up infrastructure in the secured territory. While the UF-FTT-38 can help somewhat, the land is essentially completely untouched and unknown. In the prior Arstotzka-Moskurg War and in the now hypothetical War of Canallan Aggression, human habitation of the archipelago had resulted in knowledge of at least basic routes that went through the islands which could be expanded if necessary, as well as the presence of bridges and known fords. Here, there is nothing, and combining this with the large quantities of ammo being utilized to fight the Grimm, there exists the major possibility of future supply problems.

The other issue is something that indirectly affects the war effort. With the loss of the outside world essentially confirmed by the ongoing battle with the Grimm, the price of artifacts, books, movies, and other things from outside of Forenia have skyrocketed in price and are all making their ways to the sealed vaults of collectors and the rich, or are in danger of being lost through negligence over the years or other accidents. Some vocal groups are wanting the government to step in in some way to preserve the culture so it is not lost and future generations will remember the world Forenia had come from as well as be able to see these artifacts for themselves rather than being locked away for only the enjoyment of a small minority, but some measures to achieve this will be more costly than others. Something will need to be done about that.


	4. Chapter 3: Combat over '1939'

**Dropping this one today to push things over the ten thousand word count point. Next will be two days off from now and that ratio will continue on until the sixth or seventh year is posted, depending upon if the latter is finished by that point in time.**

 **To answer the question Slephnir posted in a review, most of the designs are based off of real world weapons designed during the first world war and interwar periods of real world history (including the Death Ball, if you can believe it. Look up the Panjandrum if you don't believe me), though with some variance. There do exist a couple exceptions (see: the assault rifle), but as a general rule of thumb, that is the case.**

 **Note for the four of you who had seen this earlier: I had deleted and reposted this chapter, as for some unknown reason, the listing as to when this had updated never changed for some unknown reason, and despite the chapter seemingly being viewable, the update date still listed the 14th rather than the 15th. I have no idea what the hell happened, but it seems removing then reposting has fixed whatever was going on.**

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 **UF-SIR-39 'Ballista'** : This new development of Forenian arms takes the venerable Horsekiller round's new form, the 15mm War Horse cartridge, and applies it to our firearms. A gas-operated closed-bolt semiautomatic battle rifle, the Ballista is intended to give the average infantryman the large degree of firepower needed to confront the new threat of the Grimm. There is a detachable box magazine on the bottom, in front of the hand-grip. There was an attempt to make it hold 20 rounds, but the weapon was far too unwieldy, so it has been reduced to 6 rounds. The barrel is long, but not long enough to make it unwieldy, and the rifle is powerful and fairly accurate at range. There is a simple sighting system on top, with a rail for sniper scopes or other optics, if desired. The stock is carefully shaped and padded to help the soldier endure the expected recoil, and there is another rail system on the bottom of the barrel, allowing for a couple different variants of foregrip to be attached, and/or a bayonet. The recoil is still admittedly immense so not every soldier can use it, but a majority are able to in varying degrees of fire rate.

 **UF-ART-39 'Thunder Drum'** : A development of the Thunder Gun, the Thunder Drum includes the hydro-suspension accidentally forgotten in the original design allowing for an increase of accuracy at range. No other aspects are modified. This update will also be applied to the one mounted on UF-SPG-38s.

 **UFAF-GAFB-39 'Firebird'** :The Firebird Ground Attack Fighter-Bomber is the newest plane in the United Forenian Air Force. It is equipped with a large V12 engine, 4 AS-AC18s, and 3 bomb mounts capable of carrying 500kg of bombs each, air-brakes, aluminum reinforcements, and the cockpit and canopy being armored more than usual for a plane this size. The engine is weak enough that loading up the bomb racks with more than 500kg of bombs total means the plane cannot get off the ground, the air brakes don't engage when you want them to half the time or when they do engage, wind up either sheering off or refuse to disengage, someone screwed something up that means firing the AS-AC18 for too long sets the aluminum on fire, and some smart guy decided armoring the canopy more meant putting armor over all the glass. The plane is a trainwreck and not a single pilot within Forenia will fly the thing. Even the ones considered insane by everyone else in the military.

 **UFN-DD-39 'Guardsman'** : Based on the Footman, the Guardsman moves the guns, mostly to the centerline of the vessel: Two forwards ('B' turret superfiring) and two aft ('C' turret superfiring) mounting B2 Destroyers and two amidships on either side of the superstructure Bumblebee AT/AA. Electrical assisted rotation systems allow for better tracking speed, but the capabilities of the ship itself to turn quickly are reduced enough that it has a similar rate to the Footman when it performs a ship turn assisted tracking maneuver. Chairs and beds are insulated with either wood or rubber, to prevent the electrocution of sleeping and sitting crewmen.

 **UF-AVRE-39 'Wild Boar'** : The Wild Boar uses the hull of a T33 with much of its armor and the turret removed, the latter able to be replaced by a small crane, an excavator, or a heavy-duty winch attachment. The tank also has mountings for a dozer blade, ground braces for armored vehicle recovery and the removal of impediments like trees, and areas to mount racks to carry additional materials and supplies. The ammunition is remade into a general storage area for demolition/satchel charges, materials, AS-1911 8cm Mortars, and assortments of tools for construction. A few personal defense weapons are added to the cabins and in the storage area. The weight is generally less than a T33, giving a lot more discretionary power from the engine, meaning it is capable of bulldozing and clearing burned-out areas far quicker than before.

 **War Horse Update:** The War Horse is lightened by a kilogram. A bit more ammo can be carried.

 **Hornet Update:** A variant of the Hornet is made with a landing gear that can be dropped with a flick of a switch. Flipping the switch has fifty-fifty odds of whether or not the landing gear actually gets dropped. Pilots of the Forenian Air Force call for an investigation of whether the Department of Engineering is on drugs. Official response by the Ministry of the Public Police Service is "Of course they are."

 **UF-IFR-38A1 Model 4.1 Radio** : The Model 4 while Successful in its main aim has found some flaws in it's design in the field. To minimize these flaws The case has been reinforced to make it more durable and less fragile but still keeping it man portable. Internally some insulation has been added for the electronics to help protect it from water getting inside and water logging the electronics and to overall improve reliability in bad weather. An intern corrects the slight mistake in naming that would mean there would be two things referred to as the Model 4 Radio

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The various designs produced by the Department of Engineering help the Forenian forces greatly n the battles over the year. The UF-IFR-38A1 Model 4.1 Radio is of sufficient quality to be able to replace both the Models 3 and 4 radios and coordination ability has never been better for the forces. The UF-SIR-39 'Ballista' grants most standard infantry a weapon capable of killing several Grimm in only a few shots and at range, and the ability to mount scopes means that snipers once more get the ability to kill Grimm at their preferred ranges, and the tweaks to the War Horse allow a bit more ammo to be carried by soldiers that are able to use the weapon. The improvements of the UF-ART-39 'Thunder Drum', and the side-effect creation of the UF-SPG-38A1 that wields that rather than the former Thunder Gun, greatly assist in increasing the accurately shelling Grimm. The greater firepower of the UFN-DD-39 'Guardsman' boost the Forenian capabilities on the naval front lines, though if it was designed to use the Thunder Gun or new Thunder Drum, its effects may have been greater. While the UF-AVRE-39 'Wild Boar' is rare, infrastructure construction upon the frontlines is boosted, and it is able to occasionally recover some tanks that would otherwise have been lost due to too much damage preventing it from returning for repairs or by dragging them out of unforeseen obstacles. The Forenian Air Force is generally pissed at what they were given, but what they do have is still good quality. It's just a shame that these didn't help enough.

The military is now dealing with areas where either the Grimm are not as depleted as be as before, or, in the minds of some conspiracy theorists, the creatures had been reinforced. A majority of the population rejects these ideas, but those that do pay attention to this do note that there is one supporter of this theory that had predicted the Battle of the Embassy at the end of the Great Continental War. Whichever the case, if it was only the original species of Grimm, the military would have been pushed back a bit, but they would be able to have relatively held the line. However, unlike the prior year, many new species of the creatures are encountered. Alpha Beowolves that seem to give regular Beowolves a greater level of coordination in order to make it through the Artillery barrages so more survive to slaughter infantry, and Ursa Major that, while not having the same durability, have far greater maneuverability than the Death Stalkers while being close to as destructive to armor, vehicles, and infantry. UF-SIR-39s and War Horse weaponry are somewhat effective at killing these stronger variants, but if the creatures get close, which they do on a fair number of occasions, and the soldiers having only limited defense from the small pillboxes or open trenches when they do have something, they are often slaughtered.

Giant variants of Nevermores fly through the skies and support their smaller and ground-based cousins through engaging aircraft, and forcing many planes to engage them, while killing several, through the simple fact that they are far more durable than their lesser cousins, to the point that some pilots question why they just won't die. This allows actual numbers of standard Nevermore and more land-based Grimm to reach infantry lines on major battlefields, the former raining down hails of projectiles down, while off major battlefields, they can prove to be the death of lone scouts or pairs. However, this problem does not extend to the Bumblebee AT/AA weapons, as while they do not have the Rate of Fire of the AS-AC18s so larger numbers or missed strikes mean it is harder to strike, when they do strike it often only takes one shot, two if the first was a glancing blow. Interestingly, some of these Giant Nevermores and a few of the standard variants seem to carry in large rocks or other Grimm to drop on Forenian lines, almost seeming to emulate the bombers so effective against their kind. The limited numbers are only of limited effect when there is significant Forenian air power, but these sudden attacks can be terrifying for patrols and convoys away from bases defended by the Bumblebee AT/AA and large numbers of AS-AC18s. All of this up against the Forenian military and the weak fortifications of their bases results in them being forced back to the Isthmus.

On the sea, the introduction of the UFN-DD-39 'Guardsman' proves to be slightly more effective at fighting the Sea Dragons than the UFN-DD-38 'Footman' thanks to the increased number and positioning of the turrets allowing it to manage to land the blows to the Grimm faster. The greater cost does mean that confrontations between the Guardsman and Sea Dragons is less than between the latter and the Footman, but when those battles are waged, the Guardsman are able to occasionally face off against two of the creatures and come out narrowly ahead. Electrocution is still a problem, but the presence of the insulated bedding and chairs means there can be a few more survivors. That is, when the creatures hit areas where it would arc throughout the ship to kill crew. It seems they have started to learn, and have begun to focus upon the turrets themselves. At first it may have been annoyance at those firing back, but then it seems they noticed that by doing so, the ammunition can be cooked off and large chunks of the ships can explode. For uncertain reasons, it seems this knowledge has slowly spread through the species and focused attacks are becoming more frequent. It is not enough to push Forenia back, but it is enough that they cannot secure more of the sea.

Back on the home front, the Cultural Preservation Society as a response to the calls for the preservation of old world history. The funding planned to be provided towards it is quite difficult to acquire, especially with the ongoing war effort that is turning for the worst. However, even without this, there would still be the significant backlog for the naming of locations and wings that has developed due to how many things get donated and the values skyrocketing as people want the long term legacy of the donation. As for what is donated, those who had been establishing large collections only donate a few of their items, especially as the backlog grows, in order to allow for their heirs and other descendants to have a supply to build the prestige of their families. In the aftermath, parties such as the National Forenian People's Party, the Moskurg Nationalist Party, the Arstotzkan Nationalist Party, the Forenian Socialist Party, and the Communist Party of Forenia begin spreading rhetoric that the culture of the world should not be held by these rich families for their own gain, eventually resulting in the five parties forming a political bloc known as the Nationalist-Socialist Alliance. Individual parties come to blows over what should be done on how to secure them and what is to be done in the aftermath, but for now they form a strong bloc on the issue and garner a fair amount of support from the populace.

However, when the elections that had been temporarily delayed by the mess that was the transition, a move which cost the United Forenia Party a great deal of support when the elections actually came, no party does quite as well as the Forenian Self-Defense Advocacy Organization. Their rhetoric of the rights of the populace to arm themselves fully combined with constantly speaking about the United Forenia Party not putting enough focus upon the defense of the homeland if the Grimm push back, something that grew massively in strength with the recent pushback, winds up netting them majority control. As a result, the Department of Engineering has pressure put upon them in order to boost the defensive capabilities of the military so Forenia proper is not invaded by the Grimm. Speaking of invasion, the Nationalist-Socialist Alliance and Forenian Self-Defense Advocacy Organization manage to rally upon another issue and bring it to debate within the Supreme Command Parliament upon what is to be done to boost the homeland defense in case the worst happens and Grimm make their way into Forenia proper. If the trained military is having a problem, prominent advocates tend to say, just how bad might it wind up being for the general population if the Grimm reach them?


	5. Chapter 4: Combat over '1940'

**UF-AC-40 'Tyrannosaurus'** \- This massive beast is made from scaling-up an AC-18 to a 30mm caliber. The massive caliber allows for this weapon a great deal of damage to Grimm with individual shots, but problems in the development of the weapon mean that it needs this to remain relevant due to the rate of fire being a mere 200 rounds per minute and its massive weight of 60 kilograms.

 **UF-FT-40 'Bastion'** \- This is a revival of an ancient method of defense from the times armies primarily relied upon melee combat. The 'Bastion' is a defensive wall with the occasional protrusion allowing defenders to easily fire upon those who would try to climb, or drill through, the wall without sticking their bodies out over the edge. The scale of the constructions means that some time is required to build them up, so 'Bastions' have a priority to be built upon high ground or weak points and the lower levels will be braced extensively with either concrete or simple packed earth, depending on time demands of that particular fortification becoming functional.

 **UFAF-F-40 'Hound'** \- This single-engine aircraft is the fastest aircraft to be built by Forenia at the time of its construction, thanks to its new 12-cylinder engine that is super- and turbo-charged for maximum power. It carries four AC-18 autocannon in the wings, the inner two able to be replaced with UF-AC-40 'Tyrannosaurus' autocannons, though the weight of the weapons and size of the rounds means that not much ammo can be carried in that configuration relative to the AC-18s they replace. The aircraft is meant to dive in, shoot down larger Grimm, and run right back to higher altitudes.

 **UFN-DD-40 'Soldier'** \- Another improvement to the "Footman" line, the Soldier has improvements in turning speed thanks to modifications to the rudder and better hull streamlining. Rubber insulation has been added to the ammunition store-rooms to help defend against electric attacks. All crewman stations are now insulated with wood, instead of rubber, to save Oil costs, and the way the wooden parts are installed cuts down on the metal used in construction a bit, for instance by turning entire chairs or desks, and even some walls, to sturdy wood. Furthermore, one of the aft gun turrets of the prior incarnation in the "Footman" line, the "Guardsman" have been removed and the Bumblebee AA/AT gun turrets have been replaced with a few 20mm AC-18s.

 **F-CMX-40 'Slop Bucket'** \- This innovation is nothing more than a (mostly) portable cement mixer and assortment of tools and materials used to create concrete molds, meant to be trucked out to build sites on one truck per mixer. The system will allow for increased construction speeds, especially for the construction of roads, and an fairly increased speed of construction of massive structures.

 **UFN-NUB-40 'Rubber Everything'** \- Rubber boots are now a piece of standard equipment, and rubber gloves or entire full-body suits of rubber are provided to those who regularly touch metal onboard ships.

 **UF-ART-40 'Honeybee'** \- A variant of the Bumblebee. The Honeybee is identical in all design specs except for the targeting computer that has been redesigned to be easier to use. However, this comes at a cost of providing equally less accurate results and both versions take a similar length of time to work.

 **UF-AC-40 'Raptor'** \- An upgraded version of the venerable AC-18 20mm autocannon, the Raptor standardizes cartridge weights between different ammo types, allowing for mixed belts to be used with the API system.

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It is during this year the Second Battle of the Isthmus is waged. In the air, UFAF-F-40 'Hound' aircraft strike fiercely against the air-based Nevermore. The aircraft's great speed means that barely any of the attacks from the Nevermore are actually able to hit the planes so very few are actually able to be taken down and their rapid passes are able to eliminate large numbers of the standard Nevermore. However, the number of hits the Giant Nevermore are able to take require the Hounds use multiple passes to eliminate as their speed means they fly so fast past them that enough rounds cannot be gotten into the creatures without deliberately having to fly quite far back to get a long enough pass, something which takes them out of the fight for a relatively large amount of time. However, older aircraft are able to take up the slack on this front as the Hounds are able to hunt down the lesser Nevermores in greater numbers with less forces. Further, while its effect is small, the introduction of the UF-AC-40 'Raptor' armaments to replace the long-standing AC-18s in all aircraft allowing for mixed belts results in further general improvement of the effectiveness of the aircraft. However, given how much the aircraft already dominate the air, it does not do much on this aspect of combat.

On the ground, the introduction of the UF-FT-40 'Bastion' fortifications, with construction aided by the F-CMX-40 'Slop Bucket' and UF-AVRE-39 'Wild Boar', comes at a critical time. These sites, while limited, prove to be far more difficult than the prior pillboxes and trenches to actually capture. While vulnerable to attacks from above, the dominance of the Forenian Air Force causes this to be only a minor issue that could be solved through placing a Bumblebee AT/AA or UF-ART-40 'Honeybee', depending on the skill, on certain sections of the fortification. While these can be used against the ground-based Grimm when there are no aerial targets or other artillery can be used in their place, the primary killers of Grimm from soldiers on these fortifications is from installation of UF-SHMG-38 'War Horse', UF-AC-40 'Raptor', and UF-AC-40 'Tyrannosaurus' weapons mounted on the battlements of the fortifications. The continuous nature allows for far denser placement of these weapons, allowing for a far greater volume of fire to be poured out against the Grimm, adding a third layer to the fire from the Pillboxes and Trenches in areas where those exist and are manned. There are admittedly problems with supplying all of the weapons with ammo, but the sheer weight of slaughter does make it so that the Grimm attacking these sectors are destroyed before the guns run out of ammo.

In areas where these fortifications could not be completed in time, the defense if far more desperate. The Grimm are able to achieve breakthroughs that could have had the potential to break into the Forenian homeland. However, armor and some infantry divisions less needed thanks to the effectiveness of the UF-FT-40s are able to be redistributed towards these breakthroughs and fight them back. Forenian forces in these locations fight with a ferocity that cause some reviewing reports of the situation to question how somethings done were possible. What is certain is that these areas were some of the most brutal areas of combat in the whole battle and victory is only narrowly achieved thanks to the divisions that had been freed up.

The Isthmus is once more shrouded in the same silence as the aftermath of the First Battle of the Isthmus two years ago. As the population back home celebrates the successful defense, the bodies of the men and women who died are buried, and the military marches out once more after being resupplied. The lost territory is once more brought under control as the fortifications of the Isthmus grow and the weak points grow lesser and lesser.

At sea, the new UFN-DD-40 'Soldier' class of warship proves to be extremely effective at fighting against the Sea Dragons. Keeping the upgrades to engine power from the UF-DD-39 'Guardsman' class while reducing the overall weight of the ship plus adding greater turning ability results in the new ship to be able to often effectively handle maneuvers against two Sea Dragons at once alone. While the usage of wood allow general damage inflicted by the Sea Dragons to be more effective from raw force, this deficit pales in comparison to the benefits of the electricity not being able to arc through the ship as effectively, something made even more effective by the introduction of the UFN-NUB-40 'Rubber Everything' uniform. While the uniform does have some effect on the other ships, on the 'Soldier' class it causes casualties to be near none. Further, the usage of rubber to guard ammunition storerooms reduces the effectiveness of the tactic the Sea Dragons had developed severely. All of these factors combine to mean that it takes a force of Sea Dragons that outnumbers the Forenian navy by a factor of three to one in order to effectively fight off the Forenian navy now, and those situations are not common.

On the homefront, there is a time of celebration that the defense managed to hold. The Citizen's Watch hadn't managed to get fully established by the time that the battle had taken place, but its formation combined with this battle greatly strengthens the support of the people in the government. This is something that may be needed in the coming months as a major issue has cropped up. Specifically, the issue of all the citizens that had been stranded in the country has finally reached a breaking point. The threat of war with Canalla did drive a majority away and caused the need to deal with their situation to fall to the background after some basic housing and care was dealt with, but with the increasing time slowly quashing the hopes that this may have been a temporary situation somehow, the issue is once more brought to the fore of political discussion. Many routes are open, and these populations are concerned as to which will be the one decided to be implimented.


	6. Chapter 5: Combat over '1941'

**A slight note that I had not mentioned in the prior chapter. The end state of this story will be contact with the other civilizations of Remnant just before the Vytal Tournament seen in canon, followed by a chapter detailing a dispatch of Forenian Diplomats, Soldiers, and Engineers sent to show off the Culture and Technology of the nation and how they utterly screw up everyone's plans. This is a result that each chapter of this story operates typically over a full year's worth of time and the timescale RWBY operates on is far less than that. However, as an end state it can work. If you are questioning as to whether Dust will show up, I can say it will be coming up in the next couple of chapters.  
**

 **Now, back to the Festival. It may seem odd that Forenians could have enough of an effect with what they will have to derail the plans of the RWBY villains, but I'm going to be bringing in a little something from the forum game this is based off of. They are characterized by ending in something called a prototype battle, where madness like a secret cabal of rocket scientists create a moon-orbiting rocket in 1935 or a giant samurai mech in 1937 show up. The technology is canonically lost in the aftermath, which is why you won't be seeing designs based off these prototypes in the main fight against the Grimm.  
**

 **In order to replicate this madness, when we reach the closing years of the pushback against the Grimm, I'm going to be opening up limited submissions for prototypes.** ** **Things are not open yet, to be clear, but w** hen submissions are open, feel free to start sending in what you want to see via review or personal message. ******I will be using my own discretion as to what is being brought in and t** hey will not be showing up exactly how they are described, as I will be using a roll of a dice to affect them akin to the regular Arms Race, but it should still be a fairly entertaining madness.**

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 **UF-SG-41 "Tigress"** : This attempt to update the design of Forenia's shotgun from the now over three decade old design is met with success. It utilizes 8 gauge shells that come in either an 8 round box magazine or a 16 round drum magazine, and uses a pump-action mechanism to reload. The stock of the gun has a recoil pad composed of leather to help reduce recoil and allow for more soldiers to utilize it with ease, and a number of attachments exist for the front of the gun, including a weighted end to further reduce recoil, a bayonet, and a foregrip.

 **UF-SB-41 "Seismic Bell":** A seven meter long pole that is buried in the ground for six meters that allows for detection of underground movement from the top shaking. Soldiers are warned to pay attention not to trip on the exposed meter of the pole. There had been plans to add a bell to the top to make it more obvious, but a coffee cup forming a ring upon the plans caused this detail to be missed when the plans were passed on, something that has resulted in strict regulations being made about where drinks can be placed.

 **UF-PZ-41 'Prototype Zeppelin':** A prototype rigid airship that is able to be armed with three warhorse SHMGs, one mounted on the top accessed by a spiral staircase that does make getting ammo to it a bit difficult and two mounted on the sides of the gondola that ammo can be more easily gotten to, and a Bumblebee AT/AA, mounted forward-facing at the front of the gondola. The usage of hydrogen in general makes this a bad idea for active deployment, but in controlled situations, the design proves to be able to handle the four weapons. The four engines of the airship allow for it to travel forwards at a rate of thirty miles per hour and is able to climb vertically at a decent pace.

 **UFN-CL-41 'Lancer'** : The Lancer is the first Light Cruiser of the Forenian navy produced from the experience gained from the prior years. The three turrets are setup in the A-B-X format, with two forward turrets with one raised above the other and one raised on the stern, with each being armed with the 150mm Thunder Drum artillery. Secondary turrets utilizing Bumblebee AA/AT cannons exist, two on the bow and two on the aft, and in the anti-air role are supported by Tyrannosaurus and Raptor autocannons placed around the ship. The possibility of a depth charge rack is included, but for now the space is filled with more autocannons. The armor is thicker than the armor of the Footman line, but not thick enough to classify the ship as a full cruiser. The precautions from the 'Soldier' class destroyers created to counter the effects of electricity killing crew and setting off the ammo stores have been implemented.

 **UFAF-S-41** **'Condor':** This is a two-seater scouting plane designed for speed and endurance, at the cost of not being armed with any weapons. Combining the utilization of the engine of the UFAF-GAFB-39-A 'Firebird' with the decision to forgo arming the aircraft with weapons results in the plane having greater top speed than any other Forenian plane, though not much as the plane does have a greater size both to seat a second individual and in order to increase the amount of fuel able to be carried by the plane, something which can be further boosted through utilization of a drop tank. Maneuverability and acceleration is variable depending upon how much fuel is still in the tank as a result of the amount that the plane carries. There is a bomb-sight accessible by the co-pilot which allows for them to observe the area below, though it is not as good as it could be as using the magnification results in a blurry image due to errors in the glass casting.

 **UF-SR-41 Scorpion:** An upgrade to the UF-SIR-39 'Ballista' that turns the weapon into a dedicated sniper rifle. The stopping power of this 15mm weapon is immense, to the point testing grounds had to be rebuilt so the weapon could be tested safely.

 **UF-HT-41 'One Haul'** : The first new type of train produced since the early years of the Great War. This engine combines the more efficient steam recycling systems of Arstotzka and the more powerful oil burning engines of Moskurg to increase the capabilities of the train past its predecessors. Where priorly it had taken three, or occasionally four, engines being run very carefully to pull the AS-ARAC-35, engines of this class only require two for the same tasks, with a bit of room to spare that allows for such hauls include cars containing supplies for aircraft maintenance or fuel. The defensive augmentations that were provided to both trains are included as well, allowing for the trains to be armor plated and armed with autocannons, at a cost of the number of cars it is able to carry.

 **UF-SDP-41 Foxhole Central** : You make a mound of dirt on the ground that may have been useful as cover if the only projectile enemies didn't attack from above and any other foe just charged to melee range. Upon receiving this design, the Army joined the Air Force in asking for mandatory drug testing for the engineers of the Department to Engineering, and some segments of the Navy are starting to wonder if they might be next to receive one of these designs.

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Forenian military forces and the Grimm once more battle upon the same terrain as they had two years ago. This time, however, the Forenian military proves to be far harder to dislodge completely, as while rare, Bastions are able to assist in the fortifications of the outposts to prevent them from being overrun as easily. In addition, UFAF-S-41 'Condor' patrols are able to alert bases to incoming attacks faster, allowing greater numbers of armed aircraft to be in the air and generally increasing the available time to mobilize the bases. Particularly concentrated assaults are able to penetrate the lines and destroy some bases, but saturation bombings of the locations in the aftermath clears out much of the Grimm that had participated in the assaults. This regrettably results in the destruction of the bodies of the fallen and death tolls are presumed to be total. Occasionally some manage to get astonishingly lucky by surviving in the bombings through getting lucky while hiding in a trench or just stumble out of the surrounding area eventually, which does cause concerns as to how many are killed in the destruction. Given the order for such a bombardment is only used in when Grimm are visibly swarming throughout one of the bases, most view this possibility as an acceptable, if horrifying, cost to keeping the monsters at bay, but there does exist clamor for something for the soldiers to fall back to that would allow them to survive the destruction. Some look towards the Prototype Zeppelin as a one possible method of extraction from the ground into the air, as it does not need the long run-up of planes and others look toward a massive fortified structure resistant to bombs for soldiers to fallback into, but these ideas are merely speculative at this time.

On the offensive, the UF-SR-41 'Scorpion' and the UF-SG-41 "Tigress" prove to be quite effective at augmenting forces. Now with a powerful enough weapon, snipers are once more able to ply their craft effectively. Their new rifles can often kill lesser species of Grimm, while the Death Stalkers and King Taijitu can get fairly heavily wounded when the bullet hits, though for the latter this is only when they are off-guard. As for the shotguns, it is still an incredibly bad idea to willingly engage Grimm in the closer ranges, but in circumstances where it becomes necessary, the weapon does allow for much greater success at killing the lesser Grimm than any of the 'Ballista' rifles. Despite this, advances would have been limited thanks to the limited infrastructure and knowledge of the area. However, with UF-FTT-38 'Clean Up Crew' burning routes through the dense forests of the area followed by UF-AVRE-39 'Wild Boar' to build roads with F-CMX-40 'Slop Bucket' for the L-1 Tigers travel faster, or laying track for UF-HT-41 'One Haul' to carry tanks, aircraft, or other equipment in major quantities to the front lines, Forenia is able to gather their forces at a sufficient scale to continue their advances outwards. It should be noted there are troubles with setting up bridges with sufficient speed, something which may bottleneck future advancements.

On the sea, both sides have something new to reveal. For Forenia, it is their first ship outside of the destroyer class, the UFN-CL-41 'Lancer'. While its triple dual guns aren't able to put out the same volume of fire as the 'Guardsman' class of destroyer, each shot is far more powerful, and the ship is far better able to survive what the Grimm can attempt to throw at the Forenian navy. However, this year something new is discovered within the sea. A colossal cepholopod with a main body near as large as the AS-CV22 and eight tentacles able to grab ahold of and rip into the hulls of the Forenian ships, frequently striking from below. Thanks to their relatively slow speed, if one is spotted floating relatively high in the water before they manage to reach a fleet, bombardment from the new guns of the Lancer or planes carrying dolphin torpedoes, prior unused due to the speed of the Sea Dragons making likeliness to hit very low, they can be killed fairly easily. However, in deeper waters, the monsters favor swimming deep until under the ships, then rising up in the center of the fleet to rip into vessels. Without a way to effectively deal with this, the Forenian navy is forced back to shallower waters.

Upon the homefront, it is decided that the foreign nationals are all to be made citizens of United Forenia, as there is no known way to possibly get them back to their countries and all unclaimed land is currently held by the Grimm. Despite these logical reasons, there is initially a fairly high level of resistance, but a speech from the Prime Minister Gavriil Mikhailov, archived as "A Call to Our Fellow Humans" read out in long form in the parliament and published in a truncated form later, manages to largely wipe away the resistance and the children of earth unite under one banner to fight off against the monsters of the world they had been sent to. However, despite its achievements, the Forenian Self-Defense Advocacy Organization experiences a large decline in parliamentary seats in the elections as immediate concerns over Grimm invasion of the Forenian homelands wanes and voters begin drifting back to other parties. The party manages to form an alliance with the Forenian Capitalist Party and the wildcard Put a Rocket on It Party voting in their favor nearly allows the party to keep ahold of the position of Prime Minister, but growth in the Nationalist-Socialist Alliance provides fierce competition. Ultimately, the vote is decided by the waning United Forenia Party, in favor of the Nationalist-Socialist Alliance, and Nikolai Antonov, member of the leading party of the Alliance, the National Forenia People's Party, is made the Prime Minister of Forenia for at least the next two years.

In the aftermath of the election, new issues comes to light. How should the secured territory be opened for industrial exploitation or left alone? While there are concerns about the threat of the Grimm, the advancement of the military means that fortified sites could be made out there where mining and other resource extraction industries could flourish. However, other than just whether the areas should be opened for industry, there is also the question as to how much government involvement should there be in the extraction of minerals. In addition, within military command, the complaints of a pilot named Joseph Izz Stalling manage to make their way up to General Tereshkova, who then passes it on to the Department of Engineering. The existing Forenian bomber, the AS-HAFB-31 is far slower than any of the modern aircraft that means they can prove to be late to battles, and while its bombs can prove devastating, there aren't enough to effectively deal with the number of Grimm being faced and the strikes can often prove to be inaccurate. To better take advantage of the air superiority, something needs to be done to upgrade the bombing capabilities of the Forenian Air Force.


	7. Speech: A Call to Our Fellow Humans

**Someone who has been helping me out with writing the story, who goes by the name of Nemonole online, wrote up the truncated version of the speech, which is provided below. As an aside, the next update will not be tomorrow, but instead on Wednesday as I'm going to be a bit busy tomorrow. Anyway, on with the speech.**

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"A Call to Our Fellow Humans"

Truncated Form

 _My fellow people, the past few years have been both strange and trying. Forenia's sudden relocation has sown much confusion among us, and has separated some of you from the places you call home. It is with great regret that we cannot see a solution for this, the events that resulted in our relocation are a mystery._

 _However, there is one thing that we do know! While we may not be from the same origins, we are not just Arstotzkans, Moskurgers, Forenians or visitors from countries throughout the Old World: We are all Human... Forenia may not have been your home, but it is the only Bastion of Humanity on this New World. All of us are in this together, no matter our origins. I beseech those of you from around the world, to come together and join us, let all of us in Forenia be United in purpose!_

 _For the forces of Darkness itself seeks to slaughter us all.. It would see us, and our legacy destroyed. They have no mercy in their hearts.. Are we going to just fade away into the dark?.. No, No We Will Not. Humanity will rise up, and beat back the tides of Darkness! We Will Stand Together, And Make A New Dawn For Humanity!_

 _Now, Are You With Us, Citizens of this United Forenia?_


	8. Chapter 6: Combat over '1942'

**Update is a bit late, as I had someone over longer than either of us thought. Anyway, it's still the day I said I would put out the chapter where I live, so it is still technically on time. However, in the future I don't plan on doing this again.**

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 **UF-LIM-42 'Stone Chucker':** A 50 mm mortar of similar design and action of the old 8 cm mortar. This version has less individual killing power than the weapon it is based off of, but the user is able to carry more shells to cause destruction over a larger area for a larger period of time.

 **UF-FT-42 'Strongpoint':** To improve the effectiveness of existing fortifications, a large number of plans incorporating Bastions, Pillboxes, Trenches, Foxholes, Seismic Bells, weapons such as artillery and mines, and infrastructure are drawn up detailing the most effective potential deployments of the fortifications based upon varying types of terrain. It is claimed that these can be used in any level of vegetation, though it is noted that the first step typically is using fire to clear the work areas out on a large scale. This reference library allows for quicker determination of optimum construction upon various terrain and the order in which to build to be the most effective for defending a location.

 **UF-DC-42 'Deep Cleaner':** A depth charge that utilizes a 100kg charge of explosives deployed from the racks prior designed for the navy. It utilizes a timed fuse set according to the average amount of time it takes to get to the minimum safe distance from the ships. Attempts were made in order to create a depth-based fuse, but the sensitivity of the fuse was never able to be set properly, either detonating too late, never at all, or, in the case of the UFN Archer, soon enough the ship had to be evacuated before it sank.

 **UFAF-DB-41 'Undaunted':** A major refit of the Firebird to attempt to remake it into a better aircraft that pilots will actually fly. It's engine is replaced with the Hound's V12 engine, which would allow for an estimated 750 kilograms of bombs to be carried effectively, the air brakes are likely fixed, and the autocannons are changed over to two Tyrannosaurus autocannons. Everything able to be classified as armor is stripped away, to the point where even the shell of the body and wings have been removed. Pilots are unsure which plane to object to more.

 **UF-HG-42 'Beastpopper':** A scaled-up version of the previous hand grenades meant for short range throws and massive effect. It is meant to be tossed before contact to thin out the hordes, and used from trenches or foxholes so soldiers may immediately take cover to avoid getting blasted by their own grenade.

 **UF-SDP-42 Foxhole Central:** An improvement to the UF-SDP-41 Foxhole Central where soldiers dig fortifications into the ground rather than form up a wall of dirt. The procedures vary in scale between single to three person night watches to multi-man pits for sleeping or artillery and are occasionally reinforced with wood. Concrete reinforcement was planned, but testing for this had to be sidelined due to issues in other projects and wasn't completed in time.

 **UFAF-AB500F-42 'Aircraft Bomb 500-Fragmentation':** For when you want absolutely everything in an area to just die. These extremely large bombs carry enough explosive force that large hordes like the Grimm utilize can be decimated even more effectively than a 200 kg bomb, and there currently exist no known targets that won't be flat out destroyed by even an indirect hit.

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As Forenia enters into the fifth year of conflict, a weight seems to descend upon the population as they realize just how long it has been since arriving in the world. Not helping this is the reports of the arrival of new species of Grimm upon the front lines. These species, known to the population of Remnant as Boarbatusks and Beringels, also arrive with swarms of smaller Nevermore, roughly the size of a regular bird from back on Earth. Of these, the Boarbatusks are the least worrying, as while their four eyes allows for them to react faster than most other land species of Grimm, the Forenian military is able to adapt the tactics used against other Grimm without much difficulty. The Beringels are a different story, however. While their range isn't as great as Forenian Artillery, they more than make up for it in sheer durability and the ability to throw other Grimm rather than a shell. While it seems that King Taijitu, Deathstalkers, and the other larger, tank-killing variants are outside the scope of their abilities, even the standard Grimm can prove to be a hellish threat to deal with if thrown into the right position. By far the worst is the new, smaller variant of Nevermore. While this may seem strange to those aware that hunters can effectively ignore these, it becomes more obvious as to why when it is recalled that Forenians don't have the augmented capabilities of a hunter nor a shield to prevent their throats from being torn out or stopping a peck from caving in their skull.

At sea, the resulting battles are largely a mixed bag. While the UF-DC-42 'Deep Cleaner' proves to be highly effective at killing the Krakens, there is a fair amount of difficulty on determining if there actually is actually something underneath the ships. As evidenced on one occasion where a Deep Cleaner would up killing a whale, there is also the difficulty of determining whether or not what is being killed is actually a Kraken. The shallow waters do allow for Forenian sailors, often a former Juraki or the rare Canallan, to actually be able to spot the Krakens enough for the navy to advance, but progressing into deeper waters is making it far more difficult to spot the Grimm until it is too late.

On land, things take a turn for the worst. To take out Beringels, a direct strike from artillery or a bomb to kill them, with exception for the UFAF-AB500F-42 'Aircraft Bomb 500-Fragmentation', and during that time it is able to wreck tremendous damage with the thrown Grimm. UF-SDP-42 Foxhole Central carefully integrated into UF-FT-42 'Strongpoint' plans are able to reduce the damage from these to be slightly less damaging than before, but there is only so much that can be done when a Grimm suddenly flies into your midst. It should be noted, however, that there do exist some stories where someone thinking fast is able to use a UF-SG-41 'Tigress' to deal enough damage to prevent a complete loss of the pit or trench, but the distraction and losses alone frequently mean there aren't enough if another Grimm is thrown in or the Grimm just arrive in general. It should also be noted that UF-FT-40 'Bastion' defenses can be largely crippled by this as the Grimm can easily be thrown on top of the walls or inside, vastly reducing the ability for the fortresses formed from them to defend themselves against the waves of Grimm that come soon after.

This level of damage may have actually been at a level that the ground could have been tenuously held thanks to the output of the new UF-LIM-42 'Stone Chucker' and the abilities of the UF-HG-42 'Beastpopper' being of great effect at damaging the Grimm waves, if not for the new Nevermore variants. Despite an individual one taking only a bullet or two to take down, a patrol running into these waiting in ambush will be slaughtered due to their numbers, if the soldiers don't have some form of armor protecting them. Even then, those using Tiger Infantry Armor only last a very short time longer than the rest. The continuous directed area of effect of the Incinerator Flamethrower does seem to have some effect at countering these Grimm, but it is not enough of a counter to prevent them from pushing the effects of the Beringels to the point that the Forenian military is forced back.

The Frontier Towns Act is put into place by the Forenian parliament early in the year. However, the loss of ground during the year largely limits the effects of it and only a small sampling of how it might fully play out is done on the secured ground of the Isthmus of Mutriq. As such, how the act will finally be received has yet to be determined.

Some effects are certain upon the political sphere, however. The loss of territory is shaking the political climate of Forenia as public perception of the Nationalist-Socialist Alliance begins to slightly wane, especially with the failure of the . In addition, the internal policies of each of the five parties that created the bloc are starting to cause a great deal of friction within the Alliance. Prime Minister Nikolai Antonov makes an attempt to salvage the disaster that was the prior year's attempt to improve the bombing capabilities by sending through the request a second time, under the political guise that chaos of the prior year didn't allow for the creation of something proper with the number of things that had been worked on at the time. It was able to get through, but not perfectly, as the prior failures of the Firebird lineage are still fresh in the memories of many and there is greater desire to see the UFAF-AB500F-42 'Aircraft Bomb 500-Fragmentation' brought out in greater numbers.

A book series written by Raafat Al-Hayim known as Wands Race reaches its conclusion early in the year, with a victory for the Kingdom of Moskurg followed by a unification into an equivalent of United Forenia. There is a fair level of resentment sparking up from the Arstotzkan side of how the series ended, but it is largely weakened by curiosity as to how effective magic somewhat close to what is described within the book would help out against the Grimm. Ironically, something that would be classified under the banner of 'magical' by the children of Earth is discovered later on in the year. The crystalline substance known to the people of Remnant as Dust. The lack of understanding as to what in the world the substance is limits Forenian application, but research would be able to change this and a form of hybridization between Remnant and Earth technology could begin.


	9. Letter: Message from Hill 403

**Been a busy weekend for me, so there hasn't been any really been much work done on Chapter 7. To space things out a bit more, here's another piece from someone who has been helping in the creation of the story, this time being Captain Cat. There's supposed to be a period rather than the space in the position between Captain and Cat, but this site doesn't like anything that looks like a link. Anyway, this piece is from a soldier writing home. Hope you enjoy.  
**

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Dear Father,

I hope this letter finds you well. I'm sorry I have not written to you sooner but we have been rapidly advancing for the past few weeks and only now has the advance has been called to a halt as the onset of winter approaches. Currently my company is positioned on a hill that is being called Hill 403 which over looks some marshlands ahead and gives a great view of the area. I have to admit the wilderness is very beautiful out here, on the hill you can see for miles and with the forest turning into a sea gold makes it a sight to behold that words can't do justice to, Just wish it was not so cold here. Anyway we are currently digging into the hill until the Engineers can get the needed materials from the rear to build some pillboxes here. So here's hoping for few quite weeks of rest.

Me and the guys are doing well, Alexander is mostly back to his old wiseass self, which is a mix blessing I suppose. Tankova is still trying and failing to claim a Beowolf's tooth. Najeeb has added another seven tallies to his rifle (48 kills now) and my injury from this summer is now just a scar.

Other then that there is not much else to say about whats going on here other then it has mostly been quiet. The Grimm have mostly disappeared in the last month and besides some small groups that attack every now and again we have not had any pitch battles since this summer.

Although I did see one strange thing two days ago, When I was on the night watch I saw this orb of yellow light in the distance just barely visible. I call up Alex who was with me and he saw it to. So to get a better look at it he fire a flare to over where it was at and we most certainly got a better look at it for about 3 seconds. It looked like a jellyfish but somehow it was hovering above the ground. it was about a meter from head to toe and it bared a striking familiarity to other Grimm we have seen on the field, being most black and white with the a dash of red. As soon has the flare had illuminated it, it darted off into the woods and was out of sight seconds later.

Me and Alex reported the sighting to the Sarge afterwards and although he was skeptical about what we saw he did past it on to the CO, No word as to what they think, and likely we never hear about what they think.

Anyway I did a sketch of it and I have included it in my letter so you can get a better idea of what I'm talking about.

Here's hoping to enjoy Christmas day with you all soon.

Your loving Son, Sasha.

P.S here's another short poem from me.

 _In fields afar, Brothers in arms stand side by side to stem the endless night, so that generations yet to come will enjoy a more bright tomorrow without fear._

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 **Contained image is of the 'Seer' species of Grimm. Would provide a link to it rather than this statement, but again, Fanfiction.**


	10. Chapter 7: Combat over '1943'

**brunoteixeira2017: As I had stated in the blurb at the top of the chapter, that section was not written by me, but someone helping me out by the name of Captain Cat. Your praise for that particular chapter should go to him, not me.**

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 **UF-FR-43 'Micro-Flak':** A modification to the Raptor Autocannon shell that incorporates a fragmentation warhead initialized via impact fuse. Attempting to fire a weapon utilizing these, however, frequently results in the fuse going off in the barrel of the gun and ruining it completely, or the impact fuse jams and doesn't trigger at all.

 **UF-ART-43 'Super Hornet':** A 105mm field gun that includes the improvements of past artillery designs and utilizes oversized powder charges to increase the velocity of the charge. It includes a semi-automatic reload system to increase the firing speed of the gun to a rate of 18 per minute with a well rested crew.

 **UF-AAV-43 'Beast's Maw':** A variant of the UF-SPG-38 that trades out the Thunder Drum with a mount containing a set of four Tyrannosaurus autocannons linked together. The lesser weight of this variant than the original and some modifications to the engine means that the vehicle is able to keep up with the current tanks utilized by United Forenia.

 **UFN-SNR-43 'Sea Stalker':** The first Sonar type of system produced by United Forenia. The system consists of multiple sound emitters and detectors scattered a ship in order to attain underwater coverage in all directions. However, the size of the infrastructure for the system means that the system needs to be mounted on dedicated ships, currently AS-CV22s.

 **UF-MB-43 "Crane" Medium Bomber:** A bomber that while carrying a similar bomb payload to the older AS-HAFB-23, this bomber has a greater speed than its predecessor through usage of V12 engines from the Hound, high investment of aluminum, and an H-tail to more effectively provide lift for the craft. The bomber also includes two turrets mounted in the chin and behind the cockpit with either a pair of UF-SHMG-38s, or a single UF-AC-40 "Raptor" autocannon, the former able to guard the fore and base of the aircraft with the latter guarding the top. The chin is to be utilized by the bombardier when they are not aiming the bombs.

 **Incinerator Flamethrower Mk2** : A modification to the original Incinerator to utilize a longer nozzle and new methods to improve the range of the flamethower. However, the materials used to lengthen the nozzle are mistakenly prone to melting over longer bursts and reducing the flamethrower to the range of the original version in the best case scenario. Often times this results in the weapon becoming completely useless or, on occasion, causing feedback that causes the weapon to blow up.

 **UF-LDM-43 'Excessive Defending':** The UFAF-AB500F-42 'Aircraft Bomb 500-Fragmentation' is a highly effective weapon at killing Grimm, so why not make it into a landmine? That was the line of thought behind this monster of a weapon that is remotely detonated through the use of long wires reaching from a trigger to the weapon.

 **30mm Canister:** A modification to the 30mm rounds to fire off more in the form of a shotgun than a single projectile that turns the projectile weapon it is used within into a true monster of a shotgun. Typically used in the UF-AC-40 "Tyrannosaurus" autocannon.

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 **Just one minor point I want to put up for reference before the beginning of the main bulk, just because I feel the need to point out how insane two of the things above are when combined. The 30mm Canister is roughly as big as a 3 gauge shotgun shell. The Beast's Maw's 4 autocannons outputs that ammunition at 800/minute, or 13.3/second. For those unaware, the lower the gauge number, the bigger the shell, and while I am not one hundred percent certain, I believe the rounds in Ember Celica are 10 gauge (maybe, maybe 8) at largest, meaning what is being output is about 3 times bigger, going by weight at a far higher sustained rate. On with the chapter...**

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If fear was a trait the Grimm exhibited, there would be at least one weapon that they would. The UF-AAV-43 'Beast's Maw' when armed with 30mm Cannister ammunition is a true monster of a weapon system that is able to utterly shred all but the most armored of Grimm in seconds, and swarms of the Tiny Nevermore are simply obliterated when they attempt to attack unless they get lucky and are within the ranks of regular infantry immediately. Even then, Incenerator Flamethrower Mk2 equipped soldiers can burn away a good chunk of the creatures, and even if the Grimm manage to kill the soldiers, they are quickly dispatched. Those that the Beast's Maw cannot destroy easily can be dispatched by the UF-ART-43 'Super Hornet' without much trouble at all as the volume of fire from the weapon is able to rain hell upon the Grimm at a scale never before seen with the sheer volume of fire able to be output by a battery of the weapons. Combined with the speeds of the UF-MB-43 "Crane" Medium Bomber allowing for quicker arrival and restocking times, and the devastation able to be wrought by a UF-LDM-43 'Excessive Defending' going off, and the Grimm are able to be forced back.

Upon the sea, the old B2 Destroyers on the Soldier and Guardsman class vessels are swapped out for UF-ART-43 'Super Hornet,' vastly increasing the potential rate of fire of the vessels allowing for the more rapid slaying of any of the surface sea-based Grimm than the prior weapons they had been equipped with. The underwater detection afforded by the UFN-SNR-43 'Sea Stalker' does help in providing early warning when something large is in the area, but the early nature of the tech and the fact that the thing has to have a dedicated ship for it does limit the effectiveness of the system, but it is significant enough that Krakens are fairly reliably slain by the Forenian navy. As the navy progresses further out, something strange is detected upon the Sonar when they cross over a high ocean plateau. At a high point of it, around eighty meters below the surface, the readout seems to be showing what looks like a sunken ship despite no forces having been recorded to have come out this far. In the report, it is left as an aside with a mention that it may be due to an error in the device, but it does spark a bit of speculation, though a better system would be needed to confirm either way, as well as some equipment in order to actually get down to it.

The Frontier Towns Act begins to see fruition with the greater amount of territory secured. Given prior losses, the population is a bit reluctant to spread out as far as it is possible out of concern that whatever they build will need to be rapidly evacuated, but further progression or simply holding what is currently held would assuage these concerns enough for sufficient development for economically significant resource extraction to begin in the coming year. At the current time, most towns have a tendency to crop up along the rail lines and fortresses set up under the UF-FT-42 'Strongpoint' plans that are now seeing less use as traffic switches towards nexuses that feed the current front lines, but surveyors searching outwards find resource caches at locations that could prove viability for towns off these locations. Analysis of the region shows that the primary product of this region is to be economically viable quantities of Dust.

This year also marks the breakup of the Nationalist-Socialist Alliance as the ideological differences between the parties hit their breaking point, and there is large scale damage from leaks about links between major members of the Arstotzka Nationalist Party and Moskurg Nationalist Party to rebel groups seeking to reestablish either of the former states. Investigations spearheaded by the Put a Rocket on It Party into these leaks reveals that there had been some suppression of leads that could lead to these conclusions strikes hard to the popularity of most, the lone exception being the Forenian Socialist Party due both to having been found to have been rallying against these suppression attempts and being the first to break with the rest of the alliance. When elections come about, these two parties ally with a now resurgent United Forenia Party prove to be the big winners and form the political bloc known as the Forenian Independence Party in the aftermath, an alliance soon joined in the elections for Prime Minister by the opportunistic Forenian Capitalist Party deciding to play kingmakers rather than attempting to rely upon wildcards to bring them into power. With this bloc having a fifty-four percent majority behind them, the leading party of the bloc, the Put a Rocket on it Party, has their candidate Benedikt Bogdanov succeeds the National Forenia People's Party's Nikolai Antonov as Prime Minister. One of the first acts of the new prime minister is a simple request to the Department of Engineering for the creation of anything incorporating rockets, as the military currently seems to have very few designs incorporating them.

Research into Earth Dust proceeds with good pace throughout the year, and some interesting properties about the material are found. When struck against dirt or rock, the substances seem to consume the dust to either grow upwards or form a pit in different forms depending upon how the material was struck against the ground. The extent depends upon the amount of the Dust being utilized, but it does indicate that the substance could prove very useful in preparing ground for or directly assisting in the construction of various fortifications. Further, once it was noted that the Dust seemed to be increasing the strength of the dirt and rock by a small degree, attempts to treat various metals with the substances were attempted and successfully discovered that doing so would boost the level of strength of the material to the equivalent of it being several millimeters thicker. This means, presuming similar thickness, it would make the augmented aluminum as strong as unaugmented rolled homogeneous armor, augmented titanium as strong as unaugmented manganese steel, and augmented manganese steel to reach even greater heights of durability and protection. As this substance seems to rely upon holding territory outside of Forenia rather than there being any form of native production and it will take some time for the industry surrounding Dust to be built up, it is determined that existing designs will not be incorporating these discoveries in order to maintain reliable equipment in the worst case scenario of being pushed back to Forenia itself and all Dust production ability is cut off completely, but new designs are able to incorporate these new discoveries.


	11. Chapter 8: Combat over '1944'

**Brunoteixiera107: Thank you, and I shall make sure to mention your praise to them.**

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 **UF-EDC(I)-44 "Instant Road" Dust Composition:** Attempts to intermix Earth Dust into concrete are made for the purposes of rapid construction of roads as quick as possible. Initially, it seems impossible for the Earth Dust to be integrated into the substance as it keeps trying to bind to the powdered rocks utilized in concrete, but a breakthrough is made where dissolving the Dust in acid, forming a substance that seems to behave similarly to liquid crystal structures, and then mixing it and higher than normal quantities of water into the concrete will create a stable, though slow setting mixture. However, while a mix is able to be produced, no breakthroughs are made in managing to align the Earth Dust in any one direction, resulting in the mixture forming a what is best described as a tangled thorn bush of concrete over the area where it was poured that can occasionally grow to out to variable lengths, potentially up to a meter, depending on how much of the mixture was poured and how the crystals decided to align. With the added strength of the Earth Dust and the fact that it does not just grow up but into the ground, breaking or dislodging particularly bad patches of the substance after it finishes drying is very difficult, resulting in more work for road construction crews than ordinary concrete.

 **UF-MBT-44 'Mauler':** A new tank built of medium armor formed of Mangalloy treated with Earth Dust to form some very potent armor. The main gun is a 105mm Super Hornet, that due to the less open interior has a 12 round per minute fire rate, and two Raptor autocannons are equipped, one on a pintle mounting and the other on a co-axial. It has a new version of the engine used in the AS-T33 that, when combined with the overall lighter weight, allow for the tank to have an overall higher speed.

 **UFN-SNR-44 'Deep Hunter':** This improvement to the Sea Stalker system is able to be mounted upon a single ship and has had its complexity reduced to the point where it can be mounted on every ship possible. Research is done into make the system able to kill underwater Grimm, but it is currently uncertain as to whether it is able to as no method of capturing Grimm for such experimentation has been developed to allow for direct observation, and live testing is a bit of a miss due to the way the creatures die. The range is improved by this research, however.

 **UF-UGM-44 "Pilum" Bombardment Rocket** : This artillery piece fires rockets with 8kg warheads from a towed carriage that has twelve rails, each mounting a single rocket. Firing after the first volley, which can go for a very long range, is near impossible the flame expelled by the rockets melts the rails to the point that the rockets launched are inaccurate past fifty meters at best, and can on occasion melt in such a way that rockets slamming into each other just as they launch and take out the whole apparatus or simply melt in such a way the rails can't be reloaded at all. Mountings are not made for aircraft as the level of danger these problems represent could very easily result in the destruction of the planes.

 **UF-SIR-44 'Vintovka'** : A modification to the Ballista rifle that replaces the prior firing mechanism with an APIB system to reduce the recoil and weight of the gun, allowing for more soldiers to be able to fire the gun and for more ammunition to be carried. The lesser recoil allows for a slightly higher fire rate for those who could use the weapon before, though the size of the magazines in both ammo count and bulk do prove to be limiting factors from keeping the increase to be higher.

 **UF-SB-44 "Seismic Bell Mk2"** : A modification to the UF-SB-41 "Seismic Bell" that adds a bell at the end of the pole for better detection abilities.

 **UF-DB-44 'Valiant':** This latest version of the infamous Firebird line is one that actually manages to have no problems, which seems to be partially blamed on the threats that the engineers themselves would need to fly this version if pilots refused to. The aircraft is able to carry a total of 1.25 metric tons of bombs across its three mountings in this version. The first test pilot and all subsequent pilots have a tendency to bring aboard a number of lucky charms on board when they fly the plane out of concern for the luck the prior versions had displayed, but whether this has any level of effect on the excellent flight capabilities of the plane is inconclusive.

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Land is not the supreme victory for Forenia as it had been in the prior year. Before an attack, a new species known as the Griffons aid boulder carrying Nevermore and Giant Nevermore in night-based strikes to destroy the rails and roads of supply lines through either dropping the boulder payloads in the case of the latter two, or simply landing and tearing apart the rails. These strikes result in days of delays before the supply flow can return to full strength, only prevented from a complete shutdown of supply due to the Stronghold series of plans containing multiple supply routes. The airforce makes attempts to prevent as many strikes as possible, but the Grimm are largely camouflaged in the night due to their pitch skin and can only be spotted through their bone masks that can be mistaken as merely stars in the night sky at a distance. This can cause pilots to alternatively miss the Grimm or attempt to chase after stars by mistake.

After these strikes, in the opening salvos, the second new species of Grimm, Creeps, perform their strikes upon the Forenian lines now weakened by supply issues. These Grimm burrow underneath the ground underneath the Bastion defenses or below a Foxhole to perform a surprise strike upon the occupants. These attacks are partially mitigated by the Seismic Bell Mk2 system providing an early warning of the Grimm's approach, but unless one of the very rare Excessively Defending five-hundred kilogram mines are nearby, a tactic only really viable from Bastions as the size of those mines poses great risk to individuals in Foxholes, there isn't any way to strike at the buried Grimm before they surface. It is noted that UF-EDC(I)-44 are one exception if the spikes wind up burrowing into the ground a notable distance where they have been used to replace barbed wire, occasionally inflicting some damage to the Grimm, but the rarity of the material and the unpredictability does mean that this is unreliable at the current time. At any rate, once the packs surface, they manage to tear apart individuals in the foxholes with ease before moving onto the next one, or run rampant around the insides of fortresses formed of Bastions before they are put down, reducing the men and supplies available to a location.

After a couple of these strikes over the course of a few hours or sometimes days, the main bulk of the Grimm forces attempt to overrun the weakened defenders. While weakened, the new Forenian designs are able to put up strong resistance. UF-UGM-44 "Pilum" Bombardment Rocket are not used in the earlier engagements against Creeps and are able to deal significant damage in the initial volleys, with the inaccuracy providing a strange boon. Beast Maws tend to be somewhat drained, but the Pilum system is able to pick up the slack somewhat when it comes to dealing with Tiny Nevermore swarms, as the explosives can destroy a good amount and the unpredictability means the creatures can't dodge the madly flying rockets at all, giving enough damage that the greater number of UF-SIR-44 'Vintovka' armed soldiers can deal with the stragglers. Speaking of the standard infantry weapon, its ability to be utilized by a greater number of soldiers does allow for a much greater volume of fire to be brought to bear against the Grimm, and along with the Instant Roads holding off the Grimm just a small bit longer, tipping the balance further away from the Grimm. However, the monsters would have managed to push through, if not for two things that manage to push things in the Forenian's favor just enough for them to pull things to a stalemate.

The first of these is the UF-MBT-44 'Mauler'. The level of expense behind them means that they are only deployed to the most critical of fortifications, but this tank is able to do what the others cannot and engage any of the current Grimm with near impunity. The sheer strength of its armor from the dust augmented Mangalloy combined with its gun allows it to go toe to toe with a Deathstalker and come out on top, unlike prior tanks, and if a King Taijitu attempts to coil around it to crush the tank, the speed of the main gun means it can often fire off a High-Explosive Anti-Tank shot to near bisect the serpents body before the Grimm can complete its attack. While there aren't enough to allow for Forenia to push into Grimm-held territory, or even hold every fortress, it is enough to keep the critical locations from falling.

Aiding in the holding of the critical fortresses and stopping the fall of the less critical fortresses is the second design, the UF-DB-44 'Valiant'. The Firebird line is finally able to display its potential in this incarnation, and it proves to be devastating to the Grimm. Equipped with either two five hundred kilogram bombs on the wing mounts and a two hundred in the center mount, or twin two hundred on the wings and a five hundred on the center if a more equal payload detonation is desired, the planes are able to blast away large positions of the Grimm with ease before following it up with a few strafing runs of their Tyrannosaurus autocannons to continue the decimation of both the ground and airborne Grimm. The Griffons would never have had a chance to deal direct damage in these battles, as, despite their greater durability compared to the Nevermores, it still isn't strong enough to survive being repeatedly shot by thirty millimeter rounds, but the Creeps may have had an effect. That is, if the Seismic Bell Mk2s couldn't be used to pinpoint where they were below the ground for an airstrike to kill them via the shockwave of a five hundred kilogram bomb or two. Some still get through on occasion, but they can be dispatched without much difficulty. However, the combined effects mean that the Forenian military isn't able to gain more ground, but it doesn't lose any ground either.

At sea, the new Sonar system proves to be quite useful in preventing Grimm attacks. Attacks take a distinct enough drop that the capability of the system to kill Grimm from proximity is largely believed, though there is the competing theory that they are just driven away by the frequency the Sonar operates on. Either way, approach under the water is no longer something attempted by the Grimm. Some of the Sea Dragons attempt to attack through flight barely above the waves or from high up, but this is quite simple to counter compared to the surprise strikes seen in earlier years. Some Krakens do manage to occasionally get close enough they might do damage, but they are killed easily enough. All of this allows for Forenia to advance further with ease, and allow for similar ease in scanning the wreck found last year with the new sonar. Though the details are vague, it reveals that the strange blip is certainly ship of unknown manufacture. It seems Forenia is not alone in this new world, a fact that brings hope and concern to the populace in equal measure. Others may be out there, but what might they be like?

Still, the successful defense and confirmation of the discovery garners some political support for the Forenian Independence Party, but internally the political bloc is experiencing a fair amount of friction between the two competing parties of the Forenian Socialist Party and the Forenian Capitalist Party from the highly divergent opinions held by each. The government is still largely more stable than it was under previous regimes, and with the Arstotzkan and Moskurg rebels now near entirely broken apart, there is an overall more positive outlook of the nation's future. Especially as the newly settled regions at the front lines begin bringing back Dust on a major scale.

Speaking of the substance, research into the varying types of Dust continues well, with this year's primary focus upon the Fire variant. The substance is in general useful for starting fires in most weather conditions when in low quantities and is a decent explosive in higher quantities. It's capabilities are only slightly ahead of gunpowder, in the case of the latter of these situations. However, it is found that if the two are mixed properly, the two create an extremely effective propellant far greater than either individually, with bullets fired with this mixture acting as if they were around thirty-three percent larger. Shells experience a greatly diminished effect from this as while they are able to be fired faster, they cannot contain as much explosive as those of higher size, but it does overall help with increasing the range by an additional twenty percent. Mixtures with various fuels are also tested, and it is found that the mixture allows for engines to run much more powerfully or faster depending upon the ratios utilized. Sadly, the processes used to achieve this are highly complex, and all attempts to do so wind up in failure. Though this means that every soldier and position would be able to utilize guns made to use these rounds, as the effects such as recoil are greater than standard requiring special designs to handle it, those that do incorporate it would be highly effective. It is notable that the potential of these substances in rocketry highly interest the PAROI-led government, with prominent members frequently attempting their own tests and wishing for some rocket weapons using the substance to be incorporated into the military's arsenal.


	12. Chapter 9: Combat over '1945'

**My apologies for the length of time this took to be put up. It shouldn't take as long in the future.**

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 **UF-RDN-45 'Birdwatcher':** A RADAR system based upon the research that was on island at the time of the transport and some further research to get a practical application. It utilizes a number of several synchronized radio transmitters on large towers to send out a pulse that bounces off of aerial objects to determine the location and direction of said objects. As an early RADAR system, the images come out somewhat blurry causing it to be a bit unclear as to what the objects in question precisely are, and it has to utilize large towers to get the best range. The lack of an alert system to notify if something is detected in the original designs means that crews have to constantly watch the screens to see if something has been detected.

 **UF-ORT-45 'Wild Tiger':** A new truck designed to replace the aging L-1 Tiger, this improvement plays host to vast improvements in the design of the suspension system in order to allow for greater ease of traversing off-road terrain and allow for a much smoother ride in general on paved roads, allowing for the vehicle to be pushed slightly harder than it otherwise would have been able to before as those materials are less likely to be damaged. The vehicle was also given some engine upgrades thanks to a surplus of allotted time for the project, as well.

 **UF-CV-45 'Aviatsiya'** : A one-hundred eighty meter long aircraft carrier that is able to carry up to twenty-two UFAF-S-41 'Condor', twenty UFAF-F-40 'Hound', or fifteen UF-DB-44 'Valiant', with a stock of supplies for a few runs of those aircraft fully supplied, in its hanger deck, that are brought up from the lower deck by an elevator in the dead center of the carrier, which does slightly slow down scramble times. There are a few autocannons and other machine guns mounted around the ship for anti-air fire, a single Thunder Drum underneath the flight deck aiming out the bow of the ship, and a rack for depth charges at the stern of the ship. These lattermost two weapons only have limited supplies on board.

 **UF-DR-45 "Fire Dust Rockets:** A warhead designed for use on UF-UGM-44 "Pilum" rockets that attempts to boost the yield past that of the standard warheads of the weapon. The mixture that is produced for this project is able to create a far larger blast than prior determined in research, but it comes at a cost of the warhead being, as some engineers put it, "it doesn't need a good reason [to explode]. It barely needs an excuse."

 **Incinerator Flamethrower MK 3:** An update to the Incinerator Flamethrower MK 2 that has various improvements in material composition and other design tweaks that mean the weapon is far less prone to melting over long bursts.

 **UF-LR-45 "Pike" Bombardment Rocket Launch Rails:** The material composing the rails of the Pilum rockets is improved to be able to handle the heat of the rocket launches. However, this takes enough time that the aircraft mounted variants are unable to be worked on.

 **UF-IA-45 'King Tiger Armor':** A modification to the old Tiger Infantry Armor optimized to defend against melee combat rather than rifles and machine guns, through modification of the thickness of the armor at certain points and adding covering the areas not formerly protected. This is not as great of a cost as it could have been as this variant switches over to the Earth Dust-enriched Mangalloy first debuted in the Mauler class tank. This allows the armor to have equal protection with the former class in the lighter sections, and greater protection in the heavier armored areas. However, the weight is still great, so only a limited number of soldiers are able to wear it for general use when combined with all the other supplies they have to carry.

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The new designs introduced over the course of the year manage to shift the balance back in favor of United Forenia. While the night raids are unable to be permanently stopped, the UF-RDN-45 'Birdwatcher' system does allow for these raids to be intercepted by Forenian pilots on a far higher basis than last year. When combined with the existing Stronghold plan series and the introduction of the UF-ORT-45 'Wild Tiger' to replace the L-1 Tiger, the front lines are much better supplied than last year. Though the amount of supplies getting through is still less than before the raids began, this increase provides the Forenians with a far stronger defensive position with their existing weapons than they were able to in the prior year. However, Forenia did not just have existing weapons aging in the defense.

While Forenia's artillery dominance is certain, the effect it held in dedicated assaults only grew in strength with the repairs brought on by the UF-LR-45 "Pike" Bombardment Rocket Launch Rails to the Pilum system. While the weapon system has a longer reload time than traditional artillery, the sheer quantity of rockets fired at once by installations is able to wreck greater havoc at once upon the Grimm. UF-DR-45 "Fire Dust Rockets also aid in increasing the damage to kill larger variants of Grimm more reliably than the standard are able to, though the hazards present with the warhead type prevent the warhead from being able to have the full force of their effect. Still, the weight of fire from these artillery pieces even with basic rockets are more often than not able to deal severe damage to King Taijitu type Grimm and this piece tends to be used to subdue those creatures first and foremost, allowing Maulers and other tank classes to focus fire upon Grimm that act closer to their roles, such as Ursa Major and Death Stalkers. Speaking of the Maulers, enough Dust is now coming in from the recently settled lands that the tank class is now able to be produced on a much greater scale than before, allowing the Main Battle Tank to be much more devastating to the larger species of Grimm.

Infantry are improved fairly significantly as well. The more minor upgrade is the Incinerator Flamethrower Mk.3, as the only real change is that the weapon can be used over much longer periods of time compared to the prior version. This does mean that the infantry are less prone to being wary of when exactly to fire, but not much else is changed. The more significant improvement comes from the UF-IA-45 'King Tiger Armor'. While the defense provided by the armor is nothing compared to the aura used by the Hunters of Remnant's population, the armor is enough to allow for wearers to be able to survive a couple hits from the smaller Grimm and one or two hits from the medium-sized Grimm. This change on many occasions has proven the difference between killing a Grimm or being killed by a Grimm for the soldier wearing the armor. This is likely what caused a rumor to developed late in the year that the armor allowed an elite soldier was able to survive just long enough after they lost most of their weapons to get a lucky stab with a Scimitar to kill a Beowolf. No official statement had been made about whether or not it occurred and soldiers with the armor are highly advised not to try it, but the possibility it occurred has resulted in an increase in morale at the very least.

At any rate, all of these factors combine allow for Forenia to begin pushing forth into new terrain that steadily begins shifting from the forests they had been fighting in to more open, hilly terrain. This is initially seems to be a great boon to the Forenian forces, until it is determined that the terrain plays host to a great number of cave systems the Grimm are hiding out within. These caves prove extremely difficult to root out the Grimm inside them, and the Stronghold plans steadily begin to lose effectiveness as a greater number of manned fortresses are needed than before, especially proving painful as there is no midpoint between the large fortresses formed of circular Bastions and the tiny pillboxes exists. Further, the number of large rivers in the area is also increasing and slowing down the forces as suitable bridges take quite a long time in order to construct. While over the transition this isn't too greatly harmful, further progression would have all of these becoming far greater issues.

Sea is a different story as to how the designs affect the bettleground. While the UF-CV-45 'Aviatsiya' provides a large amount of support to the existing navy during the day, they don't really add much to the naval forces aside from keeping the Sea Dragons and Krakens deep underwater outside of the Sonar range. At first it seems this may wind up granting Forenia the ability to do whatever they want at sea, but then the other shoe drops. The Grimm take their methods of nightly raids and perfects them to a greater degree here in order to attack the ships, as Sea Dragons can't be detected if they fly above the water. It then gets worse as the introduction of the Carriers seem to give the Grimm an idea to use the Krakens in another way. The species is large enough that when they surface on the water, they provide areas for Nevermore and Griffons to rest a bit from long journeys and to organize, in secret if the Krakens stay out of range of the Sonar. The combined effects of Sea Dragon lightning with Nevermore feather bombardment to clear the decks followed by Tiny Nevermore swarming and Griffons landing on the ships of Forenia's navy frequently clears out their ships, leaving them dead in the water and forcing Forenia to back to more secure waters.

Research into water dust initially has it being utilized as a fire suppression system and while a particle cloud of the type proves to be highly effective at suppressing fires, there are two dangers discovered. First is that the some smaller particles remain suspended in the air for a significant length of time, leaving a significant danger of lung damage if an individual breathes in the area they were deployed. Second is that the resulting mist is extremely conductive to electricity. A few engineers are curious as to whether or not the mist could be deployed in some way for bolts of electricity from a Tesla Coil type of source to be directed, but the viability of such a device or something similar is uncertain. Another route attempted is applying it to metal, and it is found that doing so results in an increased ability for metal treated with it to cut through the water more effectively, allowing for vessels to have a far greater speed. However, as with the mist version, it causes the metal to be far more conductive to electricity running through it.

In the political sphere, it seems that the prior coalition will remain mostly stable, but with a slight change in leadership. It turns out that attempting to modify the mail service to deliver mail through utilization of rockets tends to get less diehard portions of the populace to look to other parties to lead the country. Fortunately, most of the shift remains inside the coalition, with the seats shifting towards the Forenia Capitalist Party and the Forenia Socialist Party. With an equal amount of seats in the parliament between them, this causes a bit of tension within the Coalition. While it is eventually settled that the next Prime Minister is to be from the Forenian Socialist Party, some believe there is potential for this to cause a split in the Coalition come the next election as the FCP start to look towards their old allies in the Forenian Self-Defense Advocacy Organization. Still, while at the current time it is uncertain as to whether or not the coalition will break down, it is at least currently stable. This allows for the new Prime Minister to easily focus the efforts of the Department of Engineering, and the government at large, upon building up the nation's infrastructure to support the next advancements of the military and the construction of new settlements in the secured land, primarily in the form of more rapid construction of large scale constructions such as bridges.


	13. Chapter 10: Combat over '1946'

**Here's the first update of the new year, and a bit longer than the usual ones. Hopefully you enjoy it.  
**

 **By the way, who the hell do I need to contact in order to get the display fixed? For some reason, when I look at the story in the RWBY list, it only displays there being a total of 11 chapters and ~21k words, but we're at 13 chapters and around ~26k words.**

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 **UF-SG-46 'Queen Tigress':** A 36 kilogram weapon that could be easiest classified as a shotcannon rather than a shotgun, especially as it is modified from the 20mm Raptor autocannon. The weapon fires at a rate of 200 rounds per minute, which initially seems to be a boon until it proves that the API system is improperly designed for the new rounds. The weapon is still able to fire, but it causes the the amount of recoil to be far greater than it otherwise should have been. This with thee little time between each being fired means that very few soldiers are able to fire the weapon outside of an emplaced position.

 **UF-FT-46 'Hasna':** A small fortification that mounts a Super Hornet upon its roof and multiple Tyrannosaurus autocannons around the edges of the platform for anti-Grimm fire. It has an ammunition storage area below the main firing platform and utilizes a a good amount of the Instant Road dust composition as barbed wire. The access to the ammunition storage a bit small, which makes storing and retrieving ammo a little difficult, causing the rate of fire to be slightly reduced in the heat of battle.

 **UF-ORT-46 "Spotlight"** : A modification of the Wild Tiger that mounts a high powered searchlight into the flatbed of the truck that is controlled by a single operator who uses cranks to turn and change the elevation of it. There seem to be a number of problems in the wiring system that result in it being able to only output a small amount of light that provides only limited assistance at searching through the air.

 **UF-SC-46 'Equitus':** This ship mounts a single Super-Hornet in a turret on the bow of the ship, one depth charge rack at the aft, and some Tyrannosaurus autocannons on the rails as an emergency defensive measure to protect the main aspect of the ship, its Radar. The size of the Birdwatcher system was able to be reduced to the point it was able to be mounted within a Cruiser hull without causing the ship to roll over from its size through both minor advancements in the technology and treating the wiring with Water Dust in order to enhance its abilities to carry a current. However, the process to make the wiring is currently quite [Complex], and makes it difficult to produce many of these ships.

 **UF-AVRE-46 'Modjeski':** A modification to the existing UF-AVRE-39 'Wild Boar' designed to carry and place down a eighteen meter folded bridge that is reinforced with Earth Dust to be able to support 10 tons moving over it at one time. These temporary bridges are unable to bear the weight of another bridge layer or current tanks moving across them, which prevents their use in crossing large rivers and means infantry and carefully loaded trucks are able to cross over the bridge where it can be laid down at. This does at least allow for more permanent, stronger bridges to be constructed faster in areas where they can be deployed at least, as construction can proceed from both sides.

 **UF-SG-45 "Tigress SA":** An update to the earlier UF-SG-41 "Tigress" that overhauls the firing mechanism to utilize a recoil operation rather than a pump-action, resulting in a increased rate of fire.

 **UFN-DDAA-46 'Bowman':** A new iteration descended from the Footman class line, the Bowman has four turrets, two of which mount Super Hornets and two of which that have quad-mounted Tyrannosaurus autocannons. The ammunition supply for the Super Hornet turrets is focused towards flak, and former raptor nests are replaced with quad-mounted Tyrannosaurus autocannons when possible. The increased mass of the 30mm rounds compared to 20mm rounds may result in ammunition shortages if the rate of fire of the Tyrannosaurus autocannons is improved in a new iteration, but the current rate of fire and mass exchange means this isn't currently an issue.

 **UF-DR-46 "Fire Dust Rockets" MK 2:** Efforts into reducing the volatility of the mixture initially have the tempermental formula of the warhead replaced with a much more stable version that while still having more explosive power than standard gunpowder is still less than the original formula. However, this advancement is sidelined when a special casing is developed by the late Doctor Amir's apprentice that allows for the more explosive variation to be utilized with very little increase in tempermentality. It is noted that this particular mixture would only be able to be used in rockets, however.

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 **1946  
**

The deeper nature of the caves the Forenian military comes across combined with the natural camouflage of the Grimm in the pitch black environments amplified by the lack of lighting to effectively illuminate the caves for active combat during exploration causes attempts to progress into the caves to result in it being near impossible to guarantee a victory, despite the combat bonus the UF-SG-46 "Queen Tigress" and UF-SG-45 "Tigress SA". In some of the largest caves, this can somewhat be mitigated through driving a UF-ORT-46 "Spotlight" into it, but they can only go so far into such a cave before the terrain prevents further movement, as is the case with all vehicles. This results in general procedure when coming across a cave to be simply sealing the cave up with layers of Instant Roads to make a barbed wire barrier, then filling the area outside with mines and fortifications, starting with Pillboxes then working up to Hansa and Bastions. Foxholes get phased out for defenses near as soon as this plan gets put into motion as Creeps consistently start to just surface from their burrowing right in the middle of them to kill fire teams inside before they have a chance to react.

This tactic may have worked to some degree, though it would have slowed down the process of continuing on too far too difficult even with the UF-AVRE-46 'Modjeski' allowing some degree of greater speed from crossing some rivers due to the required level of stationing of manpower, if two new species are found reported within the depths. The first of these is what could best be described as a rider having merged with their horse in a similar style to a centaur, though in the middle of the back rather than replacing the head. While only either what could vaguely be called human or horse could move at one time, the creatures are immensely durable. The creature is able to take on dozens of hits from grenades or Scorpion rounds before even one part of the creature dies, and once that is achieved it is necessary to kill the remaining part. To actually manage to achieve a certain kill in one shot requires a direct strike from an artillery shell or a UF-DR-46 "Fire Dust Rockets" MK 2 warhead, and even then one of the two halves has a chance of survival. When in the underground, this alone would prove to be fatal, but the creature has another aspect to make it even more hellish to fight. The arms of it may initially seem to only be a bit longer than the human body, but they have an ability to stretch out to greater lengths, allowing for the creature to tear into Forenian soldiers with ease. Even when underground expeditions are cancelled, if a soldier gets too close to the barricades formed of the Instant Road composition, a Nuckelavee can reach through then drag them into the spikes with ease. Fortunately for Forenia, the species is one of the rarest to encounter, only being surpassed by the other Grimm that was fully encountered this year.

This other species, the Seer, does not strike too much fear to the common soldier, the chaos of battle causing the floating orb to seem to only act as a lesser Nuckelavee when in direct combat from its tendrils being used in a similar manner to that Grimm's claws. Some soldiers can occasionally swear they see something within the mist within the orb or a voice seeming to echo out from it, but it isn't generally paid much mind. The true threat is only visible from the perspective of the Generals, as they start to see the Grimm moving in a very different pattern than before. Until the Seers were present, the most complex tactics of the Grimm could be boiled down into wave tactics and a few forms of ambushes. Now, while they still used the wave tactics when directly in combat, there was a distinct improvement in their strategic capabilities, striking at weak points of the Stronghold plans staffed primarily by Pillboxes in order to encircle one of the fortresses made of Bastions through a pincer strike. Areas defended by UF-FT-46 'Hasna' are fairly effective at defending from these pushes, but they are subjected to smaller scale versions of what is happens after the push. Specifically, a multi-night siege of the location by Creeps and a dedicated campaign of strikes against the artillery and anti-air abilities to run supplies low before the pocket is closed off by an assault from every direction. At first this was chalked up it being a coincidence or the Grimm having adapted new tactics, but reports from the few pushes that manage to free some of these fortresses start finding Seers spotted at different points. Compiling reports together, it seems that it takes three Seers in order to pull off one of these tactics, one on each push and one at the fortress, with them moving to points roughly one hundred twenty degrees from each other if arranged along the ring surrounding the fortress, and it is found that killing one will cause that area to grow much weaker as the lines seem to stop being reinforced effectively. Current theory is that the creatures may somehow be equivalent to an officer over the other species of Grimm with some form of radio control, and are considered to be priority targets. This does help prevent some fortress losses late in the year from as much saturation fire as can be achieved into areas where Seers are believed to be, but the requirement for artillery to be focused into the area, distracting it from other parts of the frontline for a moderately long period of time, the somewhat limited bombing payload size of current bombers compared to the bomb sizes they need to carry, and it coming late in the year prevents this from allowing the increased coordination of the Grimm from pushing Forenia back.

At least at Sea there is a distinct, favorable shift in Forenia's favor. While the UF-SC-46 'Equitus' is the currently rarest ship of Forenia's in the water, the ship simply being within a fleet can alert nearby ships of an incoming raid with a great deal of ease. While the generally limited lighting does make defense fairly difficult, merely having a warning of an incoming attack allows for sailors to get into position to fight off the Grimm as they come in rather than being surprised. This ship can worryingly be disabled from one of the lighting attacks of the Sea Dragons, but they tend to need to be close in order to do such a thing as a result of the effects of the Sonar and by that point the fleet is already alerted to the incoming Grimm that such an action is essentially rendered moot. The ship on its own would have only tenuously held the line, but the capabilities of the UFN-DDAA-46 'Bowman' vastly increases the defensive abilities of the Forenian navy to the point that the sea can be securely held, though it would require a bit more to advance outwards.

Research into air dust initially focuses in the direction of applying it to metal to see which ways it could prove to have an effective application in that field. It is initially found that metals treated with the substance are able to be lightened by an astonishing degree, to where manganese steel can be as light a aluminum, though the returns diminish the thicker the material it is utilized in becomes. Initial attempts to apply it tot he exterior of planes to see if it would have similar effects to water dust are a bit mixed, until it is determined that the dust is speeding up the air as it goes past the wing on both sides such that the lift of the wings is reduced if applied to both sides. When applied to only one side of the wing, it is found that the lift is greatly increased rather reduced. However, as the altitude increases, it is found that the application of the Dust seems to provide steadily reducing effectiveness. Further testing in a carefully modified bomber reveals that this principle of increasing altitude reducing effectiveness is true across all forms of Dust, and if the rate remains steady, Dust-infused materials would start to become worse than non-infused materials at around the Ozone layer in the Stratosphere. As such, the team working on Dust states that it would be for the best if dust-infused materials were jettisoned before such a point, possibly through only having their use being in only a highly effective first stage. Aside from the material implementations, research goes into how the Dust may be utilized on its own, and it is found that the crystals are able to form a small, tornado-like vortex if aligned properly. One possible use for this property is to help boost the range or spread of a flamethrower depending upon how the crystals are aligned, though one person suggests attempting to make a gun that shoots tornadoes of fire to attack swarms of Nevermore with a single shot.

Initially this research seems to be an end to what the Forenians can utilize Dust for, before a small accident occurs between a UF-ORT-45, carrying a dual shipment of fire and air dust, and a rocket-boosted street car in the capital city of the Province of Moskurg, the city of Moskurg. While the shipment was being looked over after the numerous injured citizens from the wreck had been taken to hospitals and during the search for those who had died, something strange was discovered in where some of the Dust had mixed. It seemed that the two different varieties had somehow combined to produce an entirely new variety of Dust. Seeing as there was even more to the strange substance of the new world than had been prior thought, the budget of the Department of Engineering was expanded for the purposes of a new division within it focused upon research and development of new varieties and new implementations of Dust in order to have as much understanding of the substance as the nation had of fields developed upon Earth. Aside from this, further money is set aside for dedicated research into creating a way for the soldiers to be able to fight against the Grimm in the dark of night and the underground, as the existing systems clearly are not enough.

The political sphere is wracked by its own turmoil as the Arstotzka Restoration Army and the Free Moskurg Army launching a series of timed strikes against government buildings that launch further investigations causing more citizens to be arrested. This new chaos causes the final death blow to the Arstotzkan and Moskurg nationalist parties as the politicians within them abandon the parties to shift their allegiance to other parties. The delegates within the Supreme Command national parliament primarily shift their allegiances to the National Forenian People's Party or the Forenian Communist Party, but lower levels of government find a significant chunk moving towards either the Forenian Capitalist Party or the Forenian Socialist Party based on former national lines. This further drives a wedge between the two parties and makes the collapse of the coalition begun in 1943 almost certain in the next year's elections. By contrast, the National Forenian People's Party and the Forenian Communist Party are each able to utilize the collapse to strengthen their support bases as they align themselves more closely with the policies of Adolf Hitler and Leon Trotsky respectively. As Forenia had left at the very start of 1938 before Hitler began to make the major moves that would lead to the Second World War and the revelation of the Holocaust and Joseph Stalin had relatively recently had multiple crisises such as the Famine in the Ukraine and the Great Terror, the alignment with the Dictator of Germany and the true successor of Lenin strike very well with the populace of United Forenia, and there is a distinct possibility of them gaining further support as both agitate for a more permanent solution to be put into place to deal with the two rebel factions terrorizing the nation and damaging the ability to wage war upon the Grimm.


	14. Chapter 11: Combat over '1947'

**Would be nice to see a couple reviews as to how this is going. Just saying, this is the eleventh main chapter, and will be displayed as fourteenth thanks to the three ancillary, and there are only 6 reviews posted so far. I don't know about others, but I know that when I see that ratio, there's a bit of paranoia running around in my head.**

 **The contained speech is once more made by Nemonole. Credit for that part goes to them.**

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 **UF-SR-47 'Qunas':** The Qunas is a goddamn monster of a sniper rifle with its 25x125mm ammunition. Initial testing of the round results in the bullet being found literally in the next town over as the maximum range of the rifle is determined to be around 8.8 kilometers away, though it should be noted accuracy at such a range is essentially impossible, especially with the limited scopes Forenia currently has. Firing off the rifle is able to damage the ears of the sniper utilizing it thanks to the bullet exitting the barrel at Mach 4.4. If it wasn't easily evident, this rifle has an utterly monstrous level of recoil and in addition to various methods designed precisely for this rifle, such as the integrated bipod and a springloaded assembly between the stock and the main mechanisms of the gun, the rifle has an utterly massive weight of 47 kilograms unloaded. This fortunately is slightly less of a problem as the rifle is able to be disassembled into two parts so a sniper and their spotter can each carry one part between them, but the method to connect them is fairly [Complex] to prevent this from causing major problems to the rifle.

 ** **UF-SL-47 "Lantern":** **This modification of the Spotlight is able to be mounted standalone, in ships, or in forts in addition to in the flatbed of a truck. The wiring problems are located and fixed, so the beam is able to be projected at its maximum capabilities.

 **UFAF-SHB-47 'The Hand of Forenia':** The Hand of Forenia is an attempt to create a superheavy bomber to carry up to twelve tons of bombs. To do so, it has four wings in a quite expensive biplanar setup with three wings mounted between each pair and an augmentation of Air Dust in the relevant locations upon the wings to promote lift. This would make the plane quite effective, if there weren't several problems within the design. First is the fact that the bomb bay only has mountings for a maximum of two bombs, and while this may be useful for superheavy payloads, the current lack means the bomber carries far less than what could possibly be carried. In addition, the arrangement of them means that if the plane is armed with such superheavy bombs, both would need to be dropped at once in order to prevent excessive weight upon one side of the plane. The aircraft carries several defensive weapons as well to prevent it from being shot down, but the usage of wood to reduce the cost of the bomber means that it is quite vulnerable to attacks by Grimm if they manage to get in close enough to do so.

 **UFN-DE-47 'Sword':** The smallest ship thus far in the Forenian navy, it is entirely dedicated essentially to anti-aircraft fire, the ship uses three turrets in an A-B-X setup. The foremost turret mounts a single Bumblebee AT/AA cannon and the other two mount quadruple Tyrannosaurus autocannons. Some single Tyrannosaurus Autocannons line the railings and a pair of UF-SL-47 "Lantern" spotlights at either end of the ship help illuminate the night sky to help assist in the anti-aircraft fire of the main turrets.

 **UF-FL-47** : A flashlight able to be mounted on the tactical rail of a gun if a rifle possesses one, or can be taped on with the Scotch Tape. The flashlight is about 8 centimeters long and the lens is about 2.5 centimeters in diameter. The flashlight is able to output about 130 lumens over 80 meters with a battery life of 6 to 9 hours depending upon conditions. The design is fairly resistant to damage if it is ever dropped, though no mind was paid to worrying about water resistance aside from rain. This means that if it is dropped in water, you need a new flashlight **.**

 **UF-SG-47 'Queen Tigress' B:** The mechanisms of the Queen Tigress are modified and the problems are fixed, but the efforts to reduce the recoil has caused the firing rate of the rifle is reduced to the point that it is only slightly faster than a pump-action shotgun.

 **UFAF-CB6T-47 'Cratermaker':** A set of ten 500kg fragmentation bombs held together by an aluminum construction that is dropped in one collective mass to be collectively triggered by a singular trigger. The collective weight means this bomb can currently only be carried by a Hand of Forenia-class bomber.

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The retreat to familiar territory drastically increases the difficulty of the Grimm advance thanks to the extent Forenia had managed to fortify the territory over the prior years of conflict. While there do exist some parts of the line considered weak, these areas are more of relative weakness rather than the more absolute weakness of the territory fought on last year. In addition, the reprieve of conflict has resulted in the creation of a much more extensive and robust supply line to reduce the effectiveness of raids by the various Grimm capable of doing so, though the introduction of the UF-SL-47 "Lantern" system to the various fortifications along the line greatly hinders the ability for the Grimm to raid anyway. These two factors prevent the Grimm from achieving anything more than minor tactical victories that cost them the inertia. Given more time new tactics may have developed in order for them to break through, but Forenia is able to regain the momentum first and advance thanks to their new designs.

The introduction of the UF-SG-47 'Queen Tigress' B has the least effect of those introduced in the year, as it's effects are overall quite weak. The more effective pieces of infantry equipment are the UF-SR-47 'Qunas' and the UF-FL-47. The latter flashlight somewhat advances the capabilities of a standard soldier's ability to fight at night to some degree, though the typical presence of the far stronger Lantern systems in these battles does limit how effective it is. It is only when the military advances outwards and once more has to deal with the caves that the flashlights become an effective tool. While the close quarters of the area does make combat in these locations severely undesirable, this tool does manage to help clear a few caves and therefore reduces the required garrisons that needed to be kept behind in the prior advance. As for the UF-SR-47 'Qunas', the sniper rifle becomes the weapon of choice for elimination of the heavier types of Grimm, with exception held to prioritize the Seers if their presence can be found. While this can only be occasionally done, as the Seers are generally far back from the front lines and there does not exist a scope that can take advantage of the full range of the rifle, the occasions where it can be done greatly saves upon the material prior required to take down the Seers and allowing it to instead be used to break the lines of the Grimm themselves much more effectively.

Still, these weapons pale in comparison to the augmentations granted to the Forenian Air Force. The lesser of these is the modification of the Pike bombardment rails in order to be mounted upon hardpoints of the UF-DB-44 'Valiant'. While not possessing the same level of power as a single bomb would, the rails more than make up for this in the quantity of how many can be mounted upon the craft's hardpoints allowing the craft to spread out the damage over a longer period of time and hits from the standard and Fire Dust rocket warheads still do significant damage to the Grimm hit by it. Still, this is relatively minor compared to the other twinned designs introduced in the year, the UFAF-SHB-47 'The Hand of Forenia' and the UFAF-CB6T-47 'Cratermaker'. Each of these weapons is used exclusively with the other, and when it comes to wiping out chunks of Grimm, the damage wrought by these weapons is extreme, generally annihilating every single type of Grimm within the blast radius. However, the limitations upon the carrying of bombs does cause this to be a secondary role for the hand as a more effective usage is found in the form of the shockwaves from the Cratermakers being able to collapse some of the caves that deemed too dangerous for infantry to attempt to clear out, though the inefficient design of the bomb does mean that a few soldiers are left at the former entrances of the collapsed caves just in case something manages to work its way out. Even though this is required, the garrison quantity is still much, much less than the prior year, and the United Forenian Army is able to advance outwards to secure more territory effectively.

On the sea, the sheer availability of the new destroyer escort, the UFN-DE-47 'Sword', when combined with the reduced complexity of the Water Dust superconductor treatments increasing the quantity of the Equitus-class ships greatly strengthens the capabilities of the Forenian navy. With the Lanterns mounted on the Sword and fleets tending to have their own Radar ships, the night raids of the Grimm are drastically reduced in threat as a result of the extended level of awareness in all directions at any hour. There are still some issues with being able to track down where the Krakens are located, the tiny nevermore do tend to get through fairly frequently due to being difficult to shoot down unless a Tyrannosaurus is calibrated for the 30mm cannister ammunition, and the ships without lantern systems installed upon them have some difficulty directing fire, but these difficulties are not great enough to overcome the advantages held by Forenia from allowing them to advance.

To deal with the nationalist rebels, Plan Orange is put into action. There is made a one time offer of leniency for those who immediately surrender that ends disastrously as it is exploited by both the engineer leading the Arstotzkan Restoration Army and the general leading the Free Moskurg Legion in order to cause an attack upon the locations from inside and outside the buildings. This rapidly results in the end of this program and a restoration of the status quo of all members of both groups being traitors to be killed on sight ahead of schedule in a move cosponsored by the NFPP and FSDAO, for the stated reasons of the potential threat of the former terrorists to the defense of the population. Some believe the former of these parties as only having paid lipservice to the core point of the latter, but this move does result in a fair amount of support being gained for both parties, especially in FSDAO after the "Test of Resolve" speech made by former Prime Minister Gavriil Mikhailov. Simultaneously, the policial damage causes a fair amount of damage to the Forenian Independence Party coalition, with it breaking up as the Forenian Capitalist Party breaks away before the backlash can reach dire levels for them. When elections come around, they realign themselves with FSDAO and the two carefully broker an alliance with the NFPP to thereby give the newly formed Citizen's Defense Coalition control of the parliament after the results of the next election, with Gavriil Mikhailov as the new Prime Minister.

As this occurs, the Department of Intelligence returns to a high funding priority and gathers up as many former intelligence operators of other countries as they are able to as the concerns that they might attempt to weaken Forenia to reestablish their nations wanes in favor of wanting to learn the intelligence tactics of those nations. There is some degree of tension between the various operatives, but the integration and subsequent extrapolation of ideas allows for the determination of several of the lesser bases of both rebel groups, though the locations of the primary headquarters remain unknown. These relevant prisoners brought in to reveal the locations were brought in by the newly created Task Force Huntsmen, who then go on to attack these locations themselves. The process by which the task force is able to act with near impunity to persue rebels draws some criticism, but their effectiveness tends to drown out these complaints.

All of this does not stop a new, steadily increasing demand among segments of the populace for a new form of business to arise, the Private Military Company. While the national sport of controlled riots and the extremely loose weapon laws does result in the populace generally being quite competent at fighting and armed respectively, there is a distinct desire to be able to hire a greater level of protection for themselves with the potential presence of Grimm on the homeland and the real threat of a rebel attack. With no current laws, there is a bit of uncertainty as to their legal status that there are some calls to address before things grow too large that there would be damage to the economy as a result. Aside from this, there is a minor desire to see the new territory be as well fortified as the line fought upon this year from the Prime Minister to help reduce the weak points, but the exact methods are left to the design are left up to the Department of Engineering.

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 **"A Test of Resolve"**

"Those of you hearing this have likely heard of the chaos these... Terrorists... That call themselves the 'Free Moskurg Army', and the 'Arstotzka Restoration Army' have wrought. These groups seek to put their own interests over the needs of the people, regardless of nationality, or place in society. I've even heard rumors of one member of the ARA calling some of their 'Fellow Arstotzkans' 'Winter Moskurgs', because they support our United Forenia and not their group. And let's not forget some of the 'Desert Arstotzkans' comments as well! Does this sound like a pair of organizations that have the interests of the people they claim to be liberating at heart? NO! They only have their own interests, and are willing to trample over anyone that does not follow their cause. In their minds, if you are not with them you are against them!

They have forgotten our shared culture, our love of rocketry and our love of the riot. They turn a blind eye to our brave soldiers, from both Moskurg and Arstotzka, fighting side by side, having their utmost trust in those whom stand beside them, regardless of their origin, regardless of their beliefs, all to buy another day, to push back the darkness of the forces arrayed against us, constantly pushing against us, constantly testing our resolve, our unity. Both of these groups would see United Forenia shattered, and would start another civil war! A war that may just spell our doom, for the forces of the Grimm would not stand idle... Stay strong, citizens of United Forenia, and remember, that together, we are stronger than the sum of our parts, that we will rise up, and repel the forces of the dark!" _(Rockets of all sizes and colors burst forth from behind the podium)_

"Keep a vigilant eye out, citizens of United Forenia."


	15. Chapter 12: Combat over '1948'

**Too far longer than I was expecting. It would have taken even longer if I went into the various effects held by the different types of dust recovered at one point, but I decided to cut that.**

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 **UF-RAC-48 'Orion'** : An autocannon calibrated to fire shells 50mm in size, the weapon's fire rate is a mere 90 RPM, but is one of the first of a new kind produced by Forenia as it integrates technology from the Moskurg Recoilless Rifles. Ideas of potentially retrofitting this weapon into an existing tank design, possibly the T2 Breaker, are dashed as a result of danger from the expelled gasses thanks to the recoilless technology. These same concerns resulted in the weapon having a specially designed mounting when used in emplacements to help a soldier hold the quite heavy weapon when it is firing, as well as the inclusion of a warning label to not stand behind the weapon when firing. Still, if effort was given to build the turret so these gases could escape or the weapon were mounted in a place where this is not a concern, the significantly lowered recoil of this weapon compared to standard autocannons and the higher rate of fire than a comparable tank cannon would result in a quite effective weapon.

 **UFN-AK-48 'Squire':** A large cargo ship designed to be able to resupply ships on long voyages at sea from its internal reserves to allow for longer and more distant patrols of the fleet, through usage of a onboard crane with significant reach. The ship mounts a single Super Hornet and a few Tyrannosaurus autocannons for self-defense, but as it will typically be guarded by a fleet this limited amount is deemed sufficient.

 **UF-FT-48 'Pедут':** A modification to the existing pillboxes, the Pедут is slightly larger in size and is designed in order to be able to be integrated into a Bastion fortress without much difficulty, allowing for an easier time in having continued defense of a location.

 **Dust Enhanced **Ammunition** : **A new variety of bullet that utilizes two forms of Dust within the single bullet, Fire Dust mixed with the propellant as a measure to increase the speed of the bullet and Earth Dust to reinforce the bullet itself for higher durability at these high speeds and greater penetration capabilities. These combined factors allow for a bullet to strike with the force of a bullet 66% greater in diameter. However, this comes at the standard cost of the mixture of Fire Dust and propellant being a complex task to perform without things exploding, and unless a rifle is specially designed to be able to handle it, a great loss in the long term reliability of a rifle.

 **UF-DRS-45 'Underwater Repair Kit':** A modification to the 'Rubber Everything' that converts it into a diving suit that is capable of allowing an individual to dive down to a depth of eighty-five meters. Some extra equipment, such as Thermal Lances and Oxyacetylene Torches, are able to be attached to a belt in order to allow for the divers to work on the outer hull of ships to enact repairs.

 **UFAF-S-48** **'Condor' MK2:** An update to the Condor, this version has the addition of Air Dust applied to the frame allowing for the plane to be able to fly faster to a location and be more fuel-efficient when it arrives there. This combination results in the plane being able to cover a much greater quantity of ground for a much longer period of time as a result. Attempts are made in order to fix the bomb-sight to allow for greater ease in spotting rebels and Grimm, but these modifications result in the sight fogging up over longer runs, reducing the effectiveness of the plane the longer period of time it spends out.

 **UF-DFL-48:** A modification to the FL-48 that is roughly twice the size, but is designed to have a far greater brightness and range to be much greater. In addition, it is water-tight to be able to be used to roughly ninety meters under the water.

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 **1948  
**

The lesser existing defenses held by the territory they were advancing to do reduce the capabilities of the Forenian military to slaughter the Grimm on the same scale as the last year, but there are several advantages compared to when this ground was fought over in 1946. Most significant of these is the UF-FT-48 'Pедут', as the designs innate ability to be integrated within Bastion fortifications allows for the weaker areas of the line to be augmented with a moderately greater amount of ease than the prior pillboxes that had to be built around or removed. The various areas where this construction would take a significant amount of time are typically priority areas to equip with the UF-RAC-48 'Orion'. These new 50mm weapons are not frequently fired at their maximum rate as it really doesn't need to be fired much to take down any of the yet seen species of Grimm, and there is a general desire in the command to not let 50mm ammunition flying around without having hit something out of concern as to how far the bullets can fly. It takes the mention of the greater scouting capabilities of the UFAF-S-48 'Condor' MK2 and the importance of the increased data they provide over their longer runs in order to eliminate most of the complaints of the gunners assigned to the weapons.

Of the designs introduced in the year, the Dust Enhanced Ammunition's effect is considered as being the most interesting. While the complexity of preventing the propellant from blowing up in mixing only allows it to be produced for officers, the performance of said officer weapons is exceptional. The usage largely has to be limited to weapons around a maximum size of 15mm as past that point the increase in recoil and strain upon the weapons causing decrease in reliability becomes too great for simple replacement, but the mixture does show a great deal of promise in a dedicated weapon designed to handle this. As it stands, the ammunition proves to provide a moderate increase in the kills per ammo spent of the weapons it is fired from. At any rate, all of these contribute to Forenia being able to continue on their advance.

On the sea, the lack of a dedicated offensive design prevents there from being any overtly obvious changes. This is not to say the UFN-AK-48 'Squire' and the UF-DRS-45 'Underwater Repair Kit' with the UF-DFL-48 are void of any effect, as they are able to greatly extend the range, potential deployment time, and long-term fighting strength of the navy's fleets. This allows for Forenia to much more easily push out even further, resulting in the discovery of a small island to the south east that is roughly the size of the Philippines's Panay. It will take some time before a colony established upon the island, the name of which in the process of being determined by a vote, will be producing resources on an economically significant scale, but even before then it will prove incredibly useful as a base for the navy and air force in the region.

The discovery of the island is not the only major event to occur upon the sea in this year. With the creation of equipment to do so, the navy is able to begin dives into the wreck discovered a few years ago. A vast majority of what is recovered proves to be decayed to the point that not much is able to be studied from the remains, but a few manage to push the understanding of Forenian engineers further in a few fields. One of the major areas is within computers, as while the few samples are heavily decayed and the engineers are not able to replicate things to the same size, it does allow for the design of transistors are able to be derived from dismantling several of the components. Only two other things from the recovered pieces prove to be useful to have recovered, the rest being artifacts. The former is several yet unknown to Forenia varieties of Dust that were able to be derived once the end results were known, and a safe containing some old maps and what seems to be a captain's log from a recovered safe.

Analysis of the map shows that civilization seems to be primarily focused upon the northern hemisphere of the planet, with next to no settlement in the southern hemisphere. There are two exceptions to this rule with one continent in the northwest in the shape of a dragon with no settlements marked upon it and on the south eastern side of the map in the shape of Austria having a few denoted on it. The reason why a location along what seems as if it would be a major trade route has no settlements while one nowhere near any major routes would be is baffling to those studying it. While this mystery couldn't be answered until contact is established, the locations do shed light on why Forenia has thus far been so alone, as it's apparent attachment upon the southern side of the largest, crescent-shaped continent is nowhere near any likely trade route. With attacks from the Grimm heavily discouraging any large scale exploration, much less settlement, far from these routes in case reinforcement is needed, it is considered no wonder as to why neither the Forenian Army or Navy have run into anything and would instead have to come across the settlements themselves.

The captain's log is fortunately able to have at least a vague language basis determined from that could be used for first contact thanks to assistance from the various former foreign citizens that now live upon Forenia, and plans are drawn up to be able to attempt contact with the settlements in the southeastern Southern Hemisphere island. However, there are noted a few areas of the navy that are desired to be corrected before this expedition is sent off to allow for the expedition to that point is carried out. While the current navy is able to effectively fight against the currently known species of Grimm, it is incredibly likely that there may be significantly larger species within the water that exist further out into the ocean. As such, there is believed to be a need for a much more heavily armed ship in the Heavy Cruiser or Battleship range in order to allow the fleet to battle such creatures if the situation calls for it. Secondly, while they are much more prominent, it would be incredibly easy for the Radar ships to be taken out and leave the fleet largely defenseless against night attacks upon a journey as long as this one would be. There is some talk about needing a better carrier and dedicated naval aircraft, but they are not as major of a requirement as those two ships are.

The twin discoveries at sea prove to have some interesting effects in the political sphere in the homeland of Forenia. The simpler of the two is the south-eastern island, where an order for heavy coastal guns is made to the department of engineers to make the hold more certain and the name is sent to be determined by a vote. The far more complex issue proves to be the discoveries from the boat. Aside from the revelations made that the nation is no longer alone being a point of concern from a potential war being ignited from Forenia being within territory of two of the nations that was probably decided between them long ago and the four just in general having a potentially having a hostile mindset as there is now a major center of population that can be siezed, there is the distinct issue that the nations all seem to possess a much greater technological basis. Even if the sinking of the ship was only a month or two before it was originally found by Forenia, which given the reported degradation is unlikely, the nations' economies, populations, science, and military could easily outweigh that of Forenia, especially as a collective. Further, there is the issue that there was nothing recovered from the ship that gave an indication as to what the populations looked like. As such, the parliament focuses extensively upon the creation of laws and regulations in preparation for contact in order to reduce the ability for the four nations to create a puppet state out of Forenia.

The regulations of PMCs created under the label of the Forenian Defense Initiative are greeted with a fair degree of happiness by the population, though the constant government surveillance required by it does cause some grumbling. The removal for the need for permits to own combat aircraft, armored vehicles, and other equipment, after the Civilian Watch's armories are stocked and designs that are considered surplus or outdated, does result in a large expansion of the arms industry. This does cause the rebels to get a hold of some of this equipment as well, but overall the attacks from them drop as both hired PMCs and the population in general are able to attack said offenses with their own tanks, planes, and weaponry. At this point, it is certain that the number of weapons owned by the populace outnumbers the populace itself and any debates about the issue are based in by exactly how much it is by, with the more reasonable estimates being around the 140%-150% mark in small arms alone. Tanks, aircraft, and artillery pieces are still combined below the equal mark with even the wildest of predictions, which include the various AS-T15 steam tanks that Arstotzka had sold to their civilians to use as grills during the great war between it and Moskurg, still barely being below. Still, the numbers are growing, and some of the more extreme individuals believe it is only a matter of time before this combined total reaches over the point where they are equal with the population.


	16. Chapter 13: First Contact

****I apologize this has taken a significant amount of time, but I think you can see that this was a particularly long chapter. I think it even surpasses the length of the archive chapter, in fact.  
****

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 ** **UF-RR-49 'Elephant'** : **A design that revisits the traditional form of the Recoilless Rifle technology rather than the Recoilless Autocannon technology the Orion introduced, this 65mm weapon sacrifices the ballast in the prior versions and speed of the projectile to reduce the need of reinforcement for the barrel in order to allow for it to be more easily portable. These two tradeoffs are largely negated through the integration of a tripod to handle the relatively slight recoil the weapon has, and through utilization of Arstotzkan Rocketshell technology in order to allow for the projectile to still have the same speed as it would without the sacrificing of speed. **  
**

 ****UF-DAART-49 'Lightning Rail'** : **Through usage of Water Dust in order to increase the conductivity of the wiring to levels akin to superconductors and utilization of Earth Dust to reinforce the structural aspects of the system, the engineers are able to build off the designs of Louis Octave Fauchon-Villeplee to bring to life the first warfare practical railgun. The cannon fires a 50mm shell weighing about 2 kilograms that has a Manganese Steel alloy enhanced by Earth Dust in order to allow for the projectile to help it maintain itself while being fired at a speed of 1.8 kilometers per second. The new nature of the technology means that the average rate of fire is only around 4.8 per minute, and the lack of advancements in power generation means that even with the utilization of Lighting Dust the weapon system is not mobile outside of maybe a ship dedicated to very few of these guns. These issues can be solved with further advancements, however.

 ** ****UF-IFV-49 "Drive-by":****** An infantry fighting vehicle designed to carry 8 personnel. Usage of a V10 engine and Air Dust to lighten the frame allows for this 6mm armored, open-backed Halftrack to be able to drive with speeds comparable to the long used Arstotzkan motorcycles when offroad. Machine guns are able to be mounted on the rail of raised pulpit mount above the passenger seat, and upon a total of three potential positions on either side and the very back. A tarp is able to be pulled over as a folding roof for poor weather conditions.

 ** ** ****UF-ART-49 'Devastator':******** A coastal defense gun that utilizes twin 255mm caliber guns. The barrels are reinforced with Earth Dust to allow for the weapons system to make use of artillery size Dust Enhanced Ammunition with standard wear for standard ammunition fired in a non-reinforced gun, or standard ammunition with less wear. ** ** **  
******

 ** ** ****UFN-BBV-49 'Druzhina':******** The Druzhina is a hybrid of a Battleship and an Aircraft Carrier that serves as the flagship of the Forenian navy. The front half of the ship mounts a pair of Devastator turrets to form the ship's main armament with four dual Super Hornet turrets as secondary guns on each side. The rear lacks any armaments of this kind and instead opts to have an angled flight deck and a hanger. A plane catapult powered by rockets is installed into the flight deck in order to assist planes in taking off, and an arresting cable is utilized to allow for the launched planes to be able to land safely. The class can only carry and supply eight or nine planes total, depending upon the classes, in its below deck hanger and upon non-runway areas of the flight deck. The ship is heavily armored in the All or Nothing configuration that focuses on critical areas being the heaviest armored, with Earth Dust being utilized in order to have the armor be as strong as possible. As is now the standard for Forenia, Autocannons are placed wherever they can be that won't cause interference when manned, and a rack of depth charges is installed.

 ** ** ****UF-DRF-49 'Longshot Fuel':******** A modification to the existing fuels utilized in in the various rocket technologies used by Forenia that incorporates Fire Dust into the mixture to increase the speed and effective ranges rockets are able to be used at. As with gunpowder mixtures, the processes required to create the mixture without the Fire Dust igniting the mixture is complex.

 ** ** ****UF-IFR-49 Model 5 Radio:******** An iteration of the Forenian radio systems that utilizes the transistor technology recovered from the sunken ship to reduce the weight to 9 kilograms, most of which now coming from the batteries required to power the system.

 ** ** ****UF-RDN-49 'Birdwatcher' Mk2:******** An improvement to the existing Birdwatcher radar system, this version incorporates transistors derived from the sunken ship that when combined with Water Dust allows for a massive reduction in the required size of the Radar system. The reduction in size for this iteration does cause a drop in coverage to about 66% the area of the original version, but the system is now small enough that it wouldn't require a dedicated ship to mount the system.

 ** ** ** ****UF-EQB-49 'The Fist of Forenia' Mk2:********** An update to the 6 ton Fist of Forenia bomb class, this version fixes a few of the issues with the prior edition. Of primary note is that the ratio of Fire Dust to standard explosives is made far lower than the prior attempt, to the point where there is very little Fire Dust remaining at all. While this does reduce the explosive capabilities of the bomb, it is still greater than that of a 6 ton bomb composed purely of standard explosives. Aside from this, the more delicate components of the bomb are able to be fixed to be much less prone to breaking.

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 **1949**

The completion of the Carrier-Battleship hybrid, the UFN-BBV-49 'Druzhina', and the reduction in the size of radar brought about by the UF-RDN-49 'Birdwatcher' Mk2 would allow for the Great Expedition to be enacted as soon as the former finishes construction in the early summer, but the fleet is not immediately deployed to the completion of this goal. The fleet launch is instead scheduled to occur in late autumn, and until then is to accompany a distinct shift in Forenian doctrine on both the land and sea that is enacted through the year. Slow advances are made, but the intention is not to hold these lands throughout the entire year, but instead to screen the reinforcement of the defensive lines in the prior area. While there were few hints of the battles at sea affecting the land in prior years, the Expeditionary Fleet is a much different endeavor, and while the Grimm do often display only limited intelligence, the presence of the Seers and the coordination provided does cause enough concern that there may be some greater force behind them that the Generals of the Forenian Military do not want to leave it up to chance. After all, the fleet would barely have any point to it if the Grimm attack with enough fury to break the nation while it is gone.

Aside from an expansion of the existing ways the fortifications are utilized, the UF-ART-49 'Devastator' main weapons system of the UFN-BBV-49 'Druzhina' ship class are established in key positions along the line instead of just as a coastal defense in addition to UF-DAART-49 'Lightning Rail' systems. While neither have an exceptional rate of fire compared to other pieces, the Devastator makes up for this with a greatly increased amount of damage and the extreme coverage area possessed by the Lightning Rail system make both quite useful additions to the line. The road system of the are is expanded as much as can be done in order to allow for the more efficient exploitation of the new UF-IFV-49 "Drive-by" mechanized units, as well as existing Forenian motorized and armor designs, for rapid redeployment and resupply of regions in danger of collapsing. Existing Birdwatcher Radar systems are kept up to take advantage of their greater range, but the UF-RDN-49 'Birdwatcher' Mk2 system are exclusively used for the newly installed systems thanks to its far cheaper cost allowing for more widespread coverage.

The islands have an admittedly more aggressive campaign occurring upon them, as there it is possible that the Grimm found upon the newly named island of Solzhenitsyn with its surrounding smaller islands are able to be eliminated from it. As expected, the lesser islands prove to be the easiest to clear thanks to any ship being able to bombard the locations and, upon the ones where it proves to be possible to bring equipment ashore, small airfields are constructed, from which the air force can be launched from in greater numbers to support main island conquests and the components of Devastator guns and other artillery pieces are able to be brought in with modified Cranes and Hands of Forenia to construct an outer defensive ring. This move proves to be largely critical to the survival of the colony, as only a limited amount can be constructed outside of the initially areas on the main island due to the conquest of it taking long enough that there is too little time before the Expedition launches for extensive fortifications to be constructed. There is a distinct possibility that there would have been even less time available, if the introduction of the UF-RR-49 'Elephant' did not occur, as the ability to fire what is nearly a tank round turns out to be extremely effective at killing the Grimm.

The biyearly elections occur not long before the fleet launches, and results in a victory for the Citizen's Defense Coalition, with the current leader of the National Forenia People's Party, Tarik Karim, after the party gets a slight lead in seats over the Forenian Self-Defense Advocacy Organization. The results achieved in the prior years was somewhat hindered when the final version of the Hermes Plan was put out from those who wanted things to go one direction or the other to a greater or lesser degree. Any loss this may have caused is largely mitigated through the discovery of the main bases of the Moskurg and Arstotzkan rebels by Task Force Huntsmen. With their locations fairly deep in the central mountains and western jungles being far enough from any settlements, authorization is granted to drop twin UF-EQB-49 'The Fist of Forenia' Mk2 bombs on each site followed by troops marching on the locations. While some fringe elements exist and the sheer destruction exerted by the bombs does means that the military cannot find the bodies of the rebel commanders due to bodies being damaged to the point of being unrecognizable, both forces are reduced to very few supplies and they are no longer considered as a being a possible major threat to the home front during the expedition.

This run of fortune certainly wound up making the defense of Forenia much easier than it otherwise would have been, something solely needed soon after the fleet finally launched after General Salmaan el-Petrovich's speech. It is estimated that it was after the fleet's short stopover at the colony on Solzhenitsyn and began to progress beyond that the Grimm finally realized what was being attempted. It did not take long for Forenia to find out that the Grimm knew, as there was a truly massive surge of attacks on all fronts. Lancers and their Queens assaulted the air, and alongside the existing Griffons and Nevermore, caused the Forenian air superiority to become contested through the sheer numbers the Grimm possessed being greater than the numbers that the air force can kill before they reach the infantry, causing the infantry have to actually keep an eye on the sky to dodge the strikes. Land forces were bolstered in strength through the appearances of Goliaths, the Geists, and the Tentacle Grimm.

Of these, the Goliaths prove to be the least problem as despite the contested air, bombers can fly high above the Grimm, and the twenty story creatures are little match for having UF-EQB-49 'The Fist of Forenia' Mk2 bombs dropped on their herds. The Tentacle Grimm also prove to be of only limited threat, as while their ability to merge Grimm together could be quite dangerous, it also produces very large targets, yet not ones large enough to require UF-EQB-49s. As such, UF-ART-49 'Devastator' and UF-DAART-49 'Lightning Rail' systems are initially used to take them out, but the speed it grants does cause this to often fail. At least, until an alternative method is discovered with UF-RR-49 'Elephant,' as it is discovered that if the 65mm round scores a hit upon the piece that is the Tentacle Grimm, the whole fusion falls apart and everything is able to be taken down as before. Later encounters also prove the 'Qunas' sniper rifle is also supremely effective at taking down the targets at even greater range, which arguably makes the Tentacle Grimm even less effective than the Goliaths after this weakness is discovered, though at times they can perform some nasty tricks.

In contrast to these other two, the Geists prove by far to be the most terrifying of anything Forenia has encountered. While initially only composed of rocks and trees, as the weakness of the Tentacle Grimm is discovered, the Geists develop a very interesting, and very dangerous ability. With exception of the designs that incorporate Dust into their structure in some way or another, the creature is able to possess the various designs of Forenia, with tanks and artillery being favorites of it after a bit of practice to figure out how to fire the main weapons. While reloading is a bit too difficult to do for tanks and the Grimm can only really fire off the ammo due to the creature's allies being too large for the limited space to load the weapons, this is not to say taking possession of a tank is not incredibly dangerous. The Grimm has the same weakness as the Tentacle Grimm in that it is a major weakpoint to continued operations, but unlike that, it can position itself inside the driver's seat of the tank and thereby get some strong armor which can form the very hard to destroy of a body. Artillery proves to be of a much greater danger, however, as unlike the tanks, there is no restriction on space that prevents reloading. While the Grimm do have a lesser rate of fire, reduced accuracy, and cannot resupply the ammunition, the fact that they even have effective artillery does increase the casualties sustained by Forenia by a fair amount.

These new Grimm and the surge in populations of the old cause Forenia to be pushed back easily from where their armies had advanced, to the lines prepared in case of this likely situation. While they were not able to be built as extensive as those at the forest edge and isthmus, there do exist much larger rivers in the region that when placed between the line and the source of the Grimm makes for a very useful boost in the strength of the lines, especially once both banks are extensively mined and the few bridges over the river are prepared to be detonated once said chokepoints start to lose their value of funneling the Grimm. While this does allow for Forenian forces to inflict extreme casualties against the Grimm, there are many close calls in the defense. Yet despite these close calls, the morale steadily grows in strength rather than waning as prior battles had shown that eventually these surges run out, and unlike prior times, Forenia is getting closer to a victory. As such, it all comes down to whether the Forenian supply lines can keep up with the amount of Grimm coming in, and thanks to the strengthening of the supply lines in the past few years, the lines manage to hold out until the surge breaks.

Outside of the Expeditionary fleet, the Forenian Navy called their forces into a tight screen around the homeland and colonial holdings in order to defend against several attempted landings by Grimm flown in by Nevermore, Griffons, Lancers, and Sea Dragons. While in possession of a significantly larger coastline, the heartlands of Forenia have a lesser proportion of the navy assigned to it, as while it wasn't a priority compared to the northern front, having been through twenty-five decades of war between Moskurg and Arstotzka across much of the landmass, around a year of peace after the majority of the rebels had been taken down, and another twelve years of Sea-based monsters being a concern, does have a tendency to result in fairly extensive defenses. While the defenses are not perfect due to the amount of manpower available for the Coastal Garrison and the extent needed to be defended by them, the added effects of the Forenian Navy, the Citizen's Watch, Private Military Companies, statistically every citizen having at least some combat experience from the national sport of weekly regulated riots and possession of multiple pieces of military-grade hardware of some variety, and the occasional custom-built design from a few organizations akin to the Rocket Club that crop up from time to time, does cause the Grimm to be fought off. While the colony has a much more difficult time. While the Solzhenitsyn colony does possess a far more limited amount of most of the aforementioned factors, the smaller size of the area and the greater deployment of naval forces allows for it to survive as well.

While both of those areas have major assaults, the primary focus of the Grimm is plainly upon the Expeditionary Fleet. Their distance allows for a short respite as the Grimm seem to organize, but after this, the assaults upon the fleet occur unceasing at all times of the day and night, with only short respites where it is believed more Grimm are collected. These respites fortunately give time for the Expeditionary Fleet to resupply their own weapons from the several Squire-class cargo ships brought along for that express purpose, but not every ship is able to be resupplied before anther assault comes and the resupply process does slow the fleet down greatly. However, the sheer quantity of Grimm assaulting the Fleet does make this a requirement, as no one wants to go into battle lacking ammunition. This, when combined with the unfamiliarity of the waters they are progressing through, results in the journey taking near two weeks in order to arrive at the target destination. The constant assaults over the course led to a loss of near a fifth of the ships originally part of the fleet, either sunk by Grimm swarming the ships after the ammunition ran out, or purposely abandoned to concentrate crew on other ships to mitigate the steady reduction in effectiveness from crew members being killed off, and nearly a third of the planes downed.

Yet, their arrival at the chosen destination, a city later learned to be called Kuo Kuana does not provide any easy respite, as the fleet arrives at the city to discover it under siege by the Grimm. It seemed that the Grimm were attempting a last ditch effort in order to prevent contact by destroying the people the Forenians were trying to contact. In an effort to counteract the potential hostility that may brew towards Forenia due to them potentially being considered responsible for the attack as it may otherwise have not occurred had the fleet not been sent, all aircraft are launched from the Forenian ships to seize control of the air. This proved to be easier than expected, as the aerial Grimm forces participating in the attack proved to inexperienced in dealing with Forenian aircraft, behaving akin to the first couple years. A sadistic pleasure grew within the Forenians as a suspicion grew, and then was confirmed, when shellings from the fleet, directed by Condor Mk.2 aircraft, and the various bombs, rockets, and general strafing enacted by the airforce began to tear apart the lines of the attacking Grimm in support of the apparently civilian forces fighting back as well. This augmentation to the extraordinarily capable ground forces, the Grimm are fairly quickly pushed out, and a single Soldier class destroyer, the UFN Haajid al-Rizk, is sailed into the harbor.

Initial contact proves to be quite surprising, as the Forenians were not expecting to come across a populace that looked so close in appearance to humans, with the differences only being in the form of a few animal traits that would later baffle Forenian scientists that continually tried to figure out how exactly traits from often very disparate branches of evolution developed. It takes a bit to clarify that is the source of the initial reaction and not what the populace initially assumed, something which is not helped due to the cobbled together translations that had to be worked with at the time. Still, despite these difficulties, an initial request of allowing the Expeditionary Fleet, or at least what the Kuo Kuana docks can hold of the Expeditionary Fleet, is able to dock at locations on the island and a site to construct a radio broadcast tower to contact the United Forenia government and as a future embassy, in exchange for using some to assist conflicts occurring at other population centers of the nation and a good condition Sword-class Destroyer Escort stocked with ammunition, unmentioned that it had been abandoned recently to concentrate crew and was recovered for the deal. While the leader of the Menagerie delegation, Ghira Belladonna, was a bit reluctant to take the offer, seeming to wonder why the deal was more favorable to them, the deal was agreed to and work began.

It truly says something about the nature of the mass communication brought about by the Cross Continental Transmit System that near all of the population of the four kingdoms wound up hearing about the first contact before the Forenian mainland did, though their reaction is more of bafflement and concern rather than the celebratory mood the contact puts the citizens of Forenia in. This reaction of the native Human and Faunus populace of Remnant holds especially true when it comes out that the Fornian military is actually slightly larger than that of Atlas's robot enhanced forces, though the fact that the Forenian military has a much lower technology base and no aura in their forces does soothe things over for a majority of the populace. Later on, the very few decide to look past this to see that the Forenian military has a combat record against the Grimm that is near equal to Atlas's despite these two factors.

The best relations built by Forenia prove to come from the independent settlements dotting the landscape and Menagerie, as befitting one of the aspects of the Hermes plan. While the Forenian technology isn't as advanced as can be gotten from the Kingdoms themselves, the independent settlements find this can prove quite beneficial as it does not take as much to keep them maintained. Further, the arms industry is able to get some footholds from both the weapons generally being easier to maintain over the long term compared to most Remnant weapons owing to the simpler construction, and the manpower and knowledge of Forenian PMCs providing strong boosts to the fortifications of the settlements. Sales of armored vehicles and aircraft in these areas proves to be generally low, but areas that find there exist the potential for an oil-based industry in their regions do prove to be highly interested in future purchases. This is especially prominent in more southern settlements, as United Forenia's military can at times be closer in terms of response ability than the militaries of some of the major kingdoms. As for Menagerie, a slight reduction in the tariffs and small increase in foreign workers and immigrants compared to the other nations alongside the existing efforts of Forenia to help out and general lack of history against Faunus populations compared to other nations results in fairly good relations between the two nations. With trade between the two steadily growing due to each being the closest power to the other and there being trade goods both sides want, more advanced technology in the case of Forenia and a combination of some Dust exports not from the Schnee Dust Company and the effectiveness of the weapons seen during the provided assistance in the case of Menagerie, the positive nature of the relations is expected to grow for some time.

By contrast, the relations between Forenia and major nations aside from Menagerie prove to be quite strained. The high tariffs and strong limits on foreign workers created under the Hermes plan alone would likely have caused some degree thanks to the influence of the Schnee Dust Company's monopoly on key resources, with the undermining of the influences of the Kingdoms over the independent settlements being a contributing factor, but two other factors emerge to increase this tension. First and more minor is the complete refusal to switch the currency used in Forenia over from the Forenian Credit to the otherwise ubiquitous currency of Remnant known as Lien. Further and more major comes in the form of territorial disputes as Forenia only proves to recognize a limited distance of the territory surrounding settlements or otherwise military control in contrast to the more sweeping claims held by the existing powers, citing that the areas tend to be more owned by the Grimm rather than the Kingdoms.

In an attempt to calm these tense relations and likely to get more information about the new found nation, Vale convinces the other kingdoms to invite Forenia as an observer nation to the 40th Vytal Festival. There is some negotiations over how many forces Forenia is able to have as a military escort for the ships to carry the equipment there, and to protect what they do bring along, but eventually a small fleet and a brigade of military police is allowed to be sent under a number of conditions to limit their movement to only some areas. In a plan to show off during the festival, the Prime Minister makes a simple request to the Department of Engineering, for each engineer to each bring to the location one of their personal projects to be used on the final day as a demonstration of the potential near future reach of United Forenia, similar to what was planned to be attempted before the Battle of the Embassy occurred...

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 **For those unaware, the end of these games have the players all creating various 'prototype' weapons that take part in one massive conflict at the end,** ** **in this case being the whole mess that occurs in the 40th Vytal Tournament**. While this is a story, I'm going to be doing something akin to that here. Leave a review or send a PM to me containing a 'prototype' weapon you want to see mess up the events of the battle of beacon. I have other sites I post this story on that will be contributing, so expect to see ones not mentioned.  
**

 **The only restrictions that exist are that the whatever you design needs to be technically possible to be built. Dust will allow you to stretch what is possible a bit further and I will be allowing through a lot of stuff, but there will be a few extreme cases (ex. someone tries to make an anti-matter reactor) that I reserve the right to veto. Do note that what you post will not necessarily be the final form as I will be rolling a 1d6 to determine the results, but this roll won't be obeying the difficulty rules, just a simple "1 is a terrible failure, 6 is a great success, and the rest lie on a scale between". I will note that those which have are guaranteed a spot if the count grows too big. I'm will be trying to do all of the prototypes I get, but I'd rather not have to spend a month writing up everything.**

 **As an aside, feel free to drop an 'objective' the engineer named after your username will pursue during the whole conflict. By default, this will be generalized fighting against the Grimm and White Fang, but that by no means limits what you can do. I fully expect the targeting of specific characters to kill, defecting to other kingdoms, maybe a couple helping the White Fang, using a prototype to create a completely new option, and one mad bastard helping the Grimm for some reason.**


	17. Epilogue 1: Lead-Up to the Battle

**Here is the first of three parts to the epilogue. Next time will be the butterfly effects caused to the Battle of Beacon. Can admit, I got a bit more focused on just getting the chapter done towards the end due to how long it has been since the past update.**

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 **:Epilogue Part 1:**

 _Lead-Up To The Battle_

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The arrival of the Forenian fleet in Vale does not come without a small degree of troubles. The situation is partially able to be calmed through convincing the Council of Vale that there was need for a higher amount of cargo ships required to supply the return trip than prior estimated, combined with the historically higher level of attacks at sea Forenia has had to deal with over unfamiliar routes like what was required to reach Vale. At the same time, Atlas to send a portion of their own forces under the guise of protecting their own students and their visiting headmaster. Given portions were used as escorts for populations coming from Vacuo and Mistral in addition to those routes fairly often being safe, this could be easily noted as counterplay against the presence of the Forenian fleet in the region.

Notably, the Council of Vale was initially against the move of having another fleet in their city at the same time, until the Forenian fleet arrived larger than expected. The Forenia Department of Intelligence estimates that there may be a possibility to get nationalistic sentiment rising in Vale through the apparent weakness of their military. It will be a slow burn process that will need to be carefully cultivated, but it may be able to split up the Four Kingdoms from their current power bloc to help insure against a potential invasion of Forenia from a lack of other threats. While this assessment is not accurate to the mindsets of the Kingdoms themselves, the Department of Intelligence limiting themselves to only passive encouragement from exposure to the Forenians sent to operate their exhibition.

Said exhibition proves to pick up one notable hurdle when it comes to set up. While the area set aside for showing off the cultures of Forenia and the various others brought in from former foreign nationals was just barely able to have everything fit, the area for display of weapons was woefully underestimated. This is especially true with the museum pieces from the Arstotzka-Moskurg war and formerly imported weapons from collectors were brought along, in addition to the several prototypes and a desire to give tours of some of their smaller warships was expressed and live fire into the Grimm areas around the Beacon Academy. The latter of these final aspects was not granted, but the former did provide a solution to the problem where Beacon's ship docks could be used to set up a secondary display with everything area, with the closer original having various equipment rotated in.

Overall, things progress fairly well, but a number of rumors have been circling about the Forenians. First to manifest is the claims that the armored warfare rotation was sped up in order to come at the same time as the display of the Atlesian Paladins are denied by all organizers on the Forenian side. Then are the rumors of a few individuals instructing in a few ways said Paladins could be taken down by shooting at the joints using Forenian artillery or armor with comparative ease compared to trying to eliminate said weapons are false. Even if said rumors were true, they say, the ones of General Sidorenko having bragged, "If you eliminate the leg of a Paladin, it falls over and is near, if not, completely disabled with exception of a handful of point defense. If you destroyed the treads of a tank, you still have an artillery outpost. If you destroyed the main gun, you still have a pillbox. If you destroyed the machine gun, you still have a bunker. It is only when you completely destroy absolutely everything about the tank that it can be disabled." before a crowd are certainly false. The sentiment is noted to generally be common among the Forenians, but after a stolen Paladin rampages through Vale for a short time, it is not really shared outside of a few that point out it was taken down by infantry weaponry wielded by first year students rather than AT weaponry or another armored unit. While these supposed rumored claims that blatantly were not happening do not represent the largest division of opinion between the Forenians and Atlesians, the less that is said about what surrounds the Atlesian Air Fleet and the Forenian Navy and Air Forces, the better off everyone is.

This might have been kept as only a relatively minor increase in the tensions between the two nations, but then the events of the Breach occur. While Forenian assets focus on setting up a line of communication with the limited standing forces of Vale that is largely within their police forces thanks to both the language gulf, a noted lack of paradrop capabilities, existing assets being in different region, and the high chance of their equipment they could rapidly deploy leveling several city blocks, Atlesian forces rapidly deploy to the region and actually are able to participate in the conflict before it is sealed. This prompts the Council of Vale to hand over control of security of the event initially entirely to General Ironwood. This at least held true until a particular event changed the terms slightly.

It started when the headmaster attempted to assert authority over the Forenians forces in order to inspect their equipment, despite them having been gone through on the fleet's arrival, under suspicion that the Forenians having had something to do with the Breach. The cited reason for this being the apparent presence of several Forenian weapons having been noted to be in the possession of the ones that caused it. Initial objections pointing out that United Forenia had become a major exporter of weapons to much of the southern hemisphere and the captured Roman Torchwick having many criminal contacts that could have gotten possession of them that way were denied. Attempts to exclude the prototypes and limit the inspections of more modern equipment for the protection of state secrets was further denied. Eventually, the General positioned forces around the Forenians and more explicitly made his demands, and the Forenians themselves quietly moved to position themselves for a battle. The limited Vale forces were largely sidelined by Ironwood to other areas, though a few were present in both Atlas and Forenian forces, the latter present due to the Forenians having showed at least a measure more respect of coordinating with local forces and having gotten a partial backlash at their own lack of participation in the events of the Breach. It was likely only due to the intervention of the local Headmaster Ozpin with a proposal of the searches not being carried out in exchange for limiting Forenians to only be allowed on their ships, with exception of a couple very limited guard forces at the fairgrounds and embassy.

These events did not lead to the day of the tournament proper having the most stable of moods, but the general populace did not think that it could be able to get much worse. Aside from this, the general excitement of the bouts themselves was boosted with Forenia finally revealing the various prototype weapons they had brought along.

The Bulletstorm Mobile Weapons Platform is a mobile platform that has a similar shape to a UF-IFV-49 "Drive-By", but is fully tracked. Its armored is composed of Dust-Reinforced Manganese steel. It equipped with five pintle mounted Tyrannosaurus autocannons along the open back, two to either side and one facing forwards. There is a spotlight positioned towards the back to spot aircraft at night.

The UF-SHT-50X "Fennec" is a super heavy tank that lives up to the name. The eighty foot long tank possesses 300 mm of Earth Dust reinforced armor, and possesses two cannons, a single Devastator on the turret and a Super Hornet installed in a similar manner to a tank destroyer at the front. There is a single raptor autocannon at the turret hatch of the tank. Due to how heavy the tank is, it requires the installation of the same engine used by a Solder-class Destroyer, and even then is only really able to go about 8 kilometers per hour. Yet, if it gets moving, it's not like there is much that can force it to stop.

The Arc Rifle is a gun that utilizes Lightning Dust in order to emit a massive discharge of electricity to kill a target. It has yet to be fired, so the exact charge has not yet been determined.

The UF-IFV-50X "Marauder" is an infantry fighting vehicle with manganese steel armor 30mm thick, its frontal armor heavily sloped, that is able to drive at 55 km/h. The internal space is able to carry a little over a dozen passengers with an internal medical station, and the installation of ice dust to cool the internals to around 5 degrees Celsius. Initially seeming excessive, this does mean that when the area effect flamethowers mounted around the turret are deployed, the internal temperature only rises by an estimated 25 degrees. There is an SHMG-38 pintle-mounted at the commander's hatch, but not much space for ammunition exists to fit more flamethrower fuel.

The UF-MB-50X "White Base" is a ship containing an engine large enough that it had Earth Dust applied to it. Propulsion is done via a set of treads, in addition to the existing propellers, that were intended to be able to drive it on land as well, but it turned out it was too long for it to be able to turn. Mounted along the entirety of the railing are many Tyrannosaurus autocannons and the center line of the ship has possession of one Lightning Rail system and a couple Super Hornets. Much of the internal space is taken up by storage space to supply food and water for the fleet.

The UFN-CAV-50X "Molniya" is a heavy cruiser armed with a single turret mounting a pair of upscaled Lightning Rail-type cannons that fire a 203mm shell, and a pair of triple Devastator turrets. Initial plans held more of the former weapon systems in triple arrangement, but limitations from the size of power storage caused said limitations. Secondary weapons come in the form of 6 dual-purpose Super Hornet twin-mounts and 12 Tyrannosaurus quad-mounts that are mounted in turrets.

The FDEAS is a shield able to be carried in one hand, on the back, or deployed on the ground. It is composed of a moderate layer of Earth Dust enhanced steel, a thin dust-neutral layer, and a thick layer of Air Dust enhanced material in order to provide a strong level of protection while moderating the weight.

The AS-SS1950X "Star Of Arstotzka II" is a recreation of the original Star of Arstotzka rocket launched to lunar orbit on the old world in 1935 with minor improvements and being purely able to reach orbit via rockets rather than being fired out of a modified observatory as a first stage. It is absolutely not funded by Arstotzkan loyalists to leave the planet to recreate Arstotzka on other worlds, what are you talking about? The name is merely a homage to the first. Please follow these nice men who just wish to take you aside only to speak with you about this.

The Wyvern Jet Fighter is a twin afterburner turbofan aircraft with a clipped delta wing configuration. At the maximum speed, it is able to fly just below Mach 1 without diving, and possesses numerous control surfaces that allows for the craft to be highly maneuverable. The craft's armaments are highly limited, with the main gun being a single 30mm rotary autocannon and a set of multiple UF-LR-45 "Pike" Bombardment Rocket Launch Rails mounting UF-DR-46 "Fire Dust Rockets" MK 2 underneath each of the wings.

The UFN-ATBBV-50X 'Tashmal Primat' is an attempt to devise a counterpart to the Atlesian Airship. It is largely based on the hull of a Druzhina class battleship, but with the addition of a fourth twin Devastator turret, and the addition of a large mass of Gravity Dust at the center of the ship in order to counteract the weight of the ship to the point where several propellers shafts can be used to raise the ship in altitude. This system has yet to be tested.

The UF-HMR-50X 'Crushplate' is a set of plate armor and hammer that makes use of an extreme amount of Gravity Dust. The outermost layer of the armor is fabricated from steel that is undergoing extreme pressure from opposing plates of pure Gravity Dust set in opposing orientations in order to compress it into greatly increase its durability without increasing the thickness excessively. Beneath this outer shell is a layer of Gravity Dust-enhanced material in order to counteract the weight of the outer shell and therefore make it possible for someone to move in it. The hammer of this set wields multiple crystals of Gravity Dust set-up in order to break apart on impact and cause a shockwave of uneven gravity upon a target to rip it to shreds, with secondary shaped crystals to largely negate the effect on the user. Neither of these have been tested while the set is worn.

The UF-Alexander-Kerensky-50X 'Assault Rifle' is a look back to modernize the old AS-AR-34 and MK-47 assault rifles after they had largely fallen out of use due to insufficient stopping power compared to the newer designs. The augmentations are simple, with the rounds taking use of 7.62mm Dust Enhanced Ammunition ammunition, and a barrel reinforced with Earth Dust in order to easily handle the increased wear said ammunition causes.

The various prototypes that were shown off sparked varying levels of interest in the general population, the most notable being the Wyvern Jet Fighter and the AS-SS1950X "Star Of Arstotzka II." The former of these was thanks to it far surpassing the speed held by the Airships and VTOL aircraft, while the latter was simply due to Remnant's past failures and the former Continent's successes in the field of space travel. Military minds, on the other hand, were greatly concerned with the potential power both of these would be able to provide Forenia, especially with the apparent late stage of development the Wyvern Jet Fighter seemed to possess.

Yet, any assuagance this would provide to the atmosphere built up by the Breach and the near break out of a war between the two largest military forces on the planet, with minor contribution from an apparent break-in during a Ball that was largely ignored thanks to the latter of the two aformentioned events, was swiftly destroyed by the events of the Vytal Tournament. First was the apparent crippling of one of the participants after the end of a match was called. Then was the killing of the Atlas synthetic participant known as Penny and the speech immediately after. The Battle of Beacon had begun.


End file.
